We're Believers, I Believe Tonight (Rewrite)
by CrimsonAdri
Summary: Lucy and Tony didn't want to go camping in the first place; the whole thing was their parent's idea for sister-brother bonding to help the two learn to co-exist. Even though they weren't looking forward to their 'bonding' trip, neither sibling knew that, by the end of the first night they would be lost in unfamiliar woods wishing they were with the other. (This is a rewrite!)
1. Prologue

**_Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings that's all Peter Jackson and J.R.R. Tolkien. I do however own anything added that you don't recognize and my two OCs Lucy and Tony._**

 ** _Summary:_ Lucy and Tony didn't want to go camping in the first place; the whole thing was their parent's idea for sister-brother bonding to help the two learn to co-exist. Even though they weren't looking forward to their 'bonding' trip, neither sibling knew that, by the end of the first night they would be lost in unfamiliar woods wishing they were with the other.**

 **The title: "We're Believers, I Believe Tonight" Is a lyric from Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back by MCR**

 **This is a rewrite; the original fic is still up but I've been rewriting a lot of my fics lately. Rewriting them helps me with writers block especially when I've been stuck for about 5 months with this one.**

 **Prologue is short but future chapters are much longer.**

 **As of 5/23/2018 I've fixed dialog grammatical errors and revised the chapter... again.**

* * *

Lucy let out a huff as she paced back and forth in front of the stairs with a deep frown. She stopped and put a hand on the stair railing.

"Tony! _Come on!_ " she shouted.

"I'm coming!" Tony shouted back, his voice muffled slightly from his door being closed.

"You said that 10 minutes ago!" Lucy shouted, slamming her hand on the railing in frustration.

"Lucy, sweetheart, you don't have to shout," their mother said from the kitchen. "Just go up stairs."

"I've been ready to go for the past _half hour_ ," Lucy said turning to her as she put her hand on her hip. "I told him to pack last night _and_ the night before that."

"She's right, it's not like he didn't know," their father said. Lucy's mother turned to give him a look and he cleared his throat. "But your mother's right. Don't yell in the house." Lucy resisted the urge to groan and stormed up the stairs. "And no stomping!" Lucy rolled her eyes as she pounded on Tony's door. "Or pounding!"

"What?!" Tony shouted from inside.

"Would you hurry up?" Lucy asked as she opened the door.

"Hey! I never said you could come in!" Tony shouted as he looked up from his handheld game.

"You little brat! You're already packed!" Lucy shouted, as she pointed at the small bag by the door accusingly.

"Yeah so?" Tony asked with a smile. Lucy let out a sigh as she shook her head.

"Get your ass downstairs already," she said. "The sooner we go the sooner we can get home."

"Oh you swore, I'm telling mom."

"Oh shut up, you say worse when you're playing that thing," Lucy said pointing at his game console. "And no game," she told him as she pointed to the one in his hands.

"What? No way!"

"Mom said."

"Bullshit."

" _Oh you swore, I'm telling mom_ ," Lucy mockingly mimicked. Tony glared and got up.

" _Mom!_ " he called as he went past her and down the stairs.

"Get your bag!" Lucy shouted after him.

"You're closer!" Tony shouted back. Lucy groaned and picked up the bag before closing Tony's door.

* * *

Lucy and Tony didn't even want to go camping in the first place; the whole thing was their parent's idea for a sister-brother bonding experience to help the two learn to co-exist. They weren't even that into the outdoors; they'd gone on a fishing trip once with their father when they were younger and absolutely despised it.

Tony wasn't looking forward to sharing a tent with his older sister by nine years and Lucy defiantly wasn't looking forward to listening to her twelve year-old twerp of a brother complain for the next 48 hours. It's not like Lucy even had to do it, either; she was almost 21 but since she was still living under her parent's roof she decided to respect their wishes and take the weekend off for the trip. So after a downhill battle against their parents, Tony was pouting in the passenger's seat of his sister's truck, with his bag all packed in the back.

The age gap between the two was never really a problem for them, even when Lucy turned 14 and entered high school while Tony was five and still in grade school. The two remained close until around when Lucy turned 18 and legally became an adult. She learned to drive, got a job and was almost never home. Now Tony picked fights with her at least four times a week resulting in yelling, name-calling and other childish things.

During this camping trip the two had to share a tent and they weren't allowed any technology besides a single flip phone their father gave them in case of emergencies and to check in at the end of each night. They were to arrive Friday afternoon and be back by Monday night.

The whole ride out was silent as Tony sat, brooding as he stared out the window with his arms crossed tightly. Every so often Lucy would glance over at him to see him glaring out the window. She rolled her eyes when he 'hmph'ed for the fourth time within the last half hour. Lucy sighed and shook her head slightly.

Even though they weren't looking forward to their 'bonding' trip, neither sibling knew that, by the end of the first night they would be lost in unfamiliar woods wishing they were with the other.

* * *

 **So that's the prologue for the rewrite. If you read the original, I hope you enjoyed the addition of the first scene, hopefully that added a bit to getting to know Lucy and Tony's relationship/interactions.**

 **This is not** ** _just_** **a romance story by the way, there's a whole thing with Lucy and Tony's brother/Sister relationship(and I shouldn't have to clarify but of course by that I mean a sibling relationship** ** _not_** **incest.)**


	2. Chapter 1

**I changed the picture for Tony, I'm now basing him off of Jeremy Sumpter when he played** ** _Peter Pan_** **in 2003 (he was 14 then but oh well).**

 ** **Thank you Flowerchild23 for being the first review and thank you to everyone who follows/favorites.****

 **As of 5/23/2018 I've fixed dialog grammatical errors and revised the chapter... again.**

* * *

Lucy huffed as she struggled to put up the tent supports. Tony lay inside even as half the tent proceeded to cave in around him. Lucy would get one side up then while she worked on the other it would cave in again.

"Ya know this would go _a lot_ quicker if you'd help me," Lucy growled. "Tony?" She got no response. " _Tony_!" She pulled back the flap of the tent and saw Tony laying down with ear buds in, staring up at a _GameBoy_. Their mother had taken away his _DS_ that morning but he'd already packed away his _GameBoy_ before hand. "Tony!" Lucy snatched the game away, ripping out the ear buds in the process.

"Yow!" Tony yelped, putting his hands over his ears. He glared up at her as he sat up.

"I thought mom and dad said no electronics." Lucy reminded him with a frown as she held the _GameBoy_ up with a hand on her hip.

"Yeah, well they didn't search through my bag before we left; not my fault," Tony said crossing his arms.

"Just _for once_ could you do what you're told?" Lucy groaned as she shook her head and put the game in her bag that was beside his. "Now come out help me, unless you actually _want_ to sleep on the ground tonight." Tony huffed as he got up and followed Lucy out of the tent.

* * *

That night, Lucy started a small fire in the makeshift fire pit she'd made earlier with a bunch of rocks she'd found around the clearing they'd picked for the campsite. She put her lighter back in her backpack before going through it. Tony was back inside the tent, and since Lucy had his game in her bag with her, she knew he was just brooding. Lucy sighed as she sat by the fire, eating from the bag of marshmallows their father had insisted they took with them. He'd expected them to make smores together and 'patch things up'. Lucy couldn't even understand why things had gotten 'torn' in the first place. Their parent's plan wasn't exactly working out as well as they'd hoped. The two had barely spoken so far, unless bickering at each other counted as speaking.

The rest of the night went on in silence besides the crickets and crackle of the slowly dying fire. Lucy put out the fire and was about to go into the tent to go to bed when Tony came out with his backpack on.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lucy asked with a frown.

"For a walk," Tony answered as he brushed past her.

"With your bag? Tony, it's the middle of the night, it's time for bed. "

"Then go to bed," Tony countered as he continued into the woods.

" _Tony_. Get back here." He ignored her and kept walking. Lucy groaned and grabbed her bag. She reached around inside for her flashlight before she zipped it up, slung it over her shoulder and went after him. "Tony, come back here." Lucy looked around but somehow had already lost sight of him. "Where did you go?" she called. "He couldn't have gotten that far..." Lucy was grateful she decided to wear her boots for the trip, instead of sneakers like she originally wanted, and long jeans because every so often a branch or twig would poke or claw at her legs as she walked. She shined her flashlight around and called out Tony's name, but he wouldn't answer; she knew that already. Eventually she gave up looking for him. He'd come back to the camp eventually; she was his only way home after all and he hadn't nicked her keys from her bag. Lucy walked back the way she came.

After a few minutes she frowned; she'd only gone in one direction into the woods, she'd made no big turns, she should've gotten back to the camp by now. She wished she hadn't put out the fire so the light could have guided her. At least Smokey Bear would be proud.

No matter how far she walked she couldn't find the clearing where they'd set up camp. She couldn't find any clearing at all or even the edge of the woods. She started calling for Tony again, a little more frantically.

"Tony? Tony, this isn't funny! Tony?!"

"Oh my." Lucy let out a small surprised scream as she whirled around. The tall grey bearded man held up his hand to shield his eyes from the shine of the flashlight. Lucy lowered it quickly and took a step back. "It is alright my dear; I'm not going to harm you."

"Who the heck are you?" Lucy asked. The man blinked a few times to let his eyes get readjusted to the light before he focused on her.

"I am Gandalf the Grey," he introduced himself with a smile.

"Gandalf? What kinda name is that?" she asked bluntly, without thinking. Gandalf frowned.

"And what, pray tell, is _your_ name?"

"Lucy Montgomery," she answered before mentally cursing at herself; she knew better to give her name to strangers, especially strangers she met in the woods.

"What kind of a name is that?" Gandalf responded with a small smirk. Lucy smiled sheepishly.

"Alright, I apologize for saying that," Lucy said. "Look, I'm a bit lost and it's already dark, so if you could just point me in the direction of the road? I can find my campsite from there."

"Lost?" Gandalf asked with a frown.

"Yeah, I was looking for my brother and-"

"You've lost your brother as well?" Gandalf asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't _lose_ him, _he_ walked off," Lucy snapped slightly before she took a calming breath. "I went to bring him back but he wouldn't respond when I called after him so I was going to go back to the campsite and wait for him... but I can't find it."

"Shouldn't you be looking for your brother?" Gandalf asked with a small frown.

"He'll find his way back," Lucy said with a shrug.

"But you yourself just said that you could not find the way back. What makes you so sure your brother will be able to?"

"Well... uh..." Lucy stopped and blinked before staring at the ground. She hadn't thought about that. What if Tony couldn't find his way back either? Gandalf cleared his throat which made Lucy look back at him.

"By any chance is this brother of yours wearing an oddly styled shirt with a rather... bright..." he gestured to his chest. "fabric?" Gandalf asked. Lucy frowned. Her brother had been wearing a band t-shirt with a neon logo. "And a black hat." Gandalf added.

"Blond hair? Black jacket?" Lucy asked as her eyebrows went up. Gandalf nodded.

"Yes, I believe that is correct."

"That's him. When did you see him? Where did you see him?" she asked with slightly wide eyes. Gandalf smiled.

"If you would come with me dear, I will take you to him." Lucy frowned but nodded. Going with a stranger you met out in the woods, another thing Lucy knew better than to do but he was an old man; he seemed pretty harmless. "Although I'm afraid we'll have to make a quick stop to pick up a few... friends of mine so _they_ don't get lost as well." Lucy frowned. "It shouldn't take long," he assured her with a smile.

"Okay, just take me to my brother."

* * *

 _Ten Minutes Earlier_

Tony walked away from the campsite, ignoring his sister calling after him. He wished he'd taken his game boy out of her bag as he went by but he was just focused on getting away from her in the moment. After a few moments he didn't hear her calling anymore and figured she went back to the tent. He continued walking through the woods until he came out onto a dirt path.

"This can't be right," Tony said as he kicked the dirt. He'd been expecting to find the road and his sister's pickup; he planned on sleeping inside it. "I'm sure I went the right way," Tony muttered as he looked up and down the road. He shook his head and decided to just start walking down the road. He swung his backpack around, grabbed his flashlight and flicked it on as he walked.

After walking for a few minutes Tony suddenly started to hear voices coming from behind him. He frowned and stopped walking as he listened.

"What's that light up ahead?" one voice asked.

"We're nearing the place right? Maybe it's just a hobbit," suggested the second.

"The light is too spread out to be a lantern."

"Multiple hobbits?" the second asked. Tony turned off his flashlight, moved back into the woods and behind a tree before he put the flashlight back into his bag. "Hey, it's gone."

"Come on." Tony peeked out from behind the tree to see two men walking up the path. One was blond with a braided mustache and another had dark hair with stubble on his chin and cheeks. Tony took a step out to get a better look at them and ended up stepping on a twig. The two men stopped and Tony grimaced as he moved back behind the tree.

"Who's there?" the dark haired one called. Tony swallowed and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"We know you're there," the blond said. Tony let out a slow, quiet breath and closed his eyes. When he didn't hear anything for a few moments he opened them.

"Hello," the two men said as they suddenly popped into view from either side of Tony. Tony jumped and let out a surprised yelp as he spun around, tripped over his own feet and fell back onto the ground.

"It's just a boy," the dark haired one noted. Tony stared at them with wide eyes. They looked to be grown men but they also looked to be only a bit taller than him.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself, lad?" the blond asked as Tony slowly stood.

"Uh..." Tony swallowed as he looked between the two, taking in their appearance.

"Oh." The two looked at each other. "Sorry." They stood in front of him.

"Fili."

"And Kili."

"At your service," they greeted with a bow.

"Uh... Tony," Tony replied as he raised an eyebrow at the two.

"Well, Tony," Fili said. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

"Uh I... my sister and I-"

"Sister?" Kili asked with a smile. Fili rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Now would this be your _older_ sister?" Kili asked. Tony frowned as Fili thumped his younger brother over the back of the head.

"You were saying?" Fili asked.

"We... we're camping out but... I left," Tony said.

"Why would you do that?" Kili asked with a frown.

"Leaving your sister all alone." Fili shook his head disapprovingly.

"Ah, who cares?" Tony said looking away with a frown as he crossed his arms. The brothers exchanged a glance.

"Well, I'm sure she'll be worried about you," Fili said with a frown.

"She gave up looking for me," Tony told them with a shrug. "Probably already went to bed." Suddenly Tony's stomach growled loudly. The two brothers chuckled.

"Hungry, lad?" Fili asked. Tony nodded.

"Come with us, we're going someplace with lots of food," Kili offered. "We can take you back to your sister after," he said with a grin. Fili rolled his eyes.

"I dunno..." Tony said but his stomach growled again. "Alright, but only cause I'm so hungry," he said. The three returned to the road and continued walking.

"Do you have food at this camp of yours?" Kili asked with a frown. "Maybe we should find your sister and bring her along," he suggested with a smile.

"She ate already," Tony said. "I was in the tent."

"Why didn't you eat with her?" Fili asked.

"I'd rather spend as little time with her as I possibly can," Tony grumbled. The two brothers exchanged frowns.

"Have a disagreement?" Fili asked. Tony shrugged.

"She's too controlling," Tony said. "She took away my game." The two brothers looked confused but didn't question him. "So where are we going anyway?"

"We don't know," Kili admitted.

"Well we do," Fili said.

"But not exactly."

"We're supposed to look for a mark on a door of a hobbit."

"A what?" Tony asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"A hobbit," Fili repeated.

"You know, short, big harry feet, live in holes in the ground," Kili described. Tony looked at them like they were crazy.

"Not everyone's seen a hobbit before, Kee," Fili reminded his brother. Kili nodded before looking at Tony.

"You'll see when we get there," he said with a smile.

"If you say so," Tony muttered.

* * *

 **So no actual** ** _new_** **scenes for** ** _this_** **chapter but I added some things, took some things out, reworded, etc. Hopefully it's better than it was before. I hope you all enjoyed and continue to enjoy reading this ^_^**


	3. Chapter 2

**Thank you everyone who reviews, follows and favorites.**

 **Bleeding Blue Kunoichi** ** _: Thank you. Uh I think I mention it in the prologue but if not I say in this chapter, but Tony's 12 and Lucy is 20 but about a month from 21._**

* * *

Lucy followed Gandalf through the woods until they came upon a camp. When Lucy first saw the fire she thought they'd found her campsite – having forgotten she had put the fire out – but when she saw the lack of a tent and eight short men, she stopped. She was just a few inches taller than most of the men but she found it odd that they didn't just look short they were smaller and they all had a _large_ amount of facial hair.

"Gandalf," one of the men said with a smile when they saw him. He had grey hair and a grey beard that was braided and tied in the front with a long band as well as another tied up in the back.

"Who's this?" one with an odd hat asked when he saw Lucy.

"This is Lucy Montgomery," Gandalf introduced as he gestured to her. She raised a hand in an awkward wave.

"Hi..." she said.

"Mount what?" the one with something like a horn in his ear asked.

"Montgomery," Gandalf repeated. "Miss Montgomery, these are dwarves."

"Excuse me?" she asked as she turned to look up at him. "They're what?"

"Dwarves," Gandalf said with a small smile.

"But..." Lucy shook her head. She looked back up at Gandalf. "You're kidding right?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"You'll find that I am not, Miss Montgomery," Gandalf responded in a similar tone with an amused smile. "Come now, introduce yourselves," Gandalf told the dwarves. The dwarf with the hat stepped forward.

"I'm Bofur and that's Bombur." Bofur said pointing to the rather large dwarf with red hair next to him who smiled. A dwarf with part of an axe in his head stepped forward next to Bombur and started speaking in a foreign language.

"W-What did he say?" Lucy asked as she took a step back; he was rather intimidating. Bofur waved his hand.

"Don't mind him, lass, that's Bifur." he explained. A ginger dwarf with a large beard and the one with the horn to his ear stepped forward.

"Gloin,"

"Oin," the one with a horn in his ear said. The dwarf who recognized Gandalf stepped forward along with a timid looking dwarf and the last one with pointy red hair.

"Dori."

"Ori."

"And Nori." Then all of them bowed.

"At your service," they all said in unison, making Lucy jump slightly. She blinked a few times as they stood up straight and Gandalf chuckled.

"Um, it's nice to meet you all," Lucy said.

"It's very nice to meet you too," Ori said with a smile. Lucy found herself smiling back before she looked at Gandalf. "You said _quick_ stop."

"That I did," Gandalf said with a nod. He looked back at the dwarves and saw they'd all packed up their things and were ready to go. He looked back at Lucy with a smile. "I think we should get going."

"You'll take me to my brother now?" Lucy asked. Gandalf gave her a nod. "Finally."

* * *

"Where the heck are we?" Tony asked as he looked around. There looked to be houses in hills. They each had round doors, too small for the average sized person to fit through comfortably, and small gardens in the front, sides and often the back.

"Hobbiton," Kili said. "Very quaint little place, isn't it?" he noted with a grin.

"Now, he said to look for a mark on a door," Fili mused as he looked at the door of one of the 'houses' they passed.

"Right," Kili agreed as he started to look as well. After a moment he turned to his brother. "What does the mark look like?" he asked. Fili shrugged.

"He didn't say."

"Shouldn't whoever invited you have told you where he lived before?" Tony asked them as he too looked for a mark on a door.

"Oh, we've never met the hobbit who owns the house," Fili admitted.

"Gandalf told us where to go," Kili explained.

"What is up with the names around here?" Tony muttered to himself.

"Ah! Here it is," Fili said, pointing to a large green door. Tony looked at the door and noticed a small mark carved into the door that glowed in the moonlight. The three went up to the door and Fili rang the bell. A moment later someone opened it, Tony couldn't see since he was stood behind the brothers.

"Fili."

"And Kili."

"At your service," they said, bowing like they had to Tony. When they bowed Tony got a glimpse at the small man who had opened the door.

"You must be Mr. Boggins!" Kili exclaimed with a grin.

"Nope! You can't come in; you've come to the wrong house!" The man protested before attempting to close the door. Kili stopped it with a hand.

"What?" he asked as he pushed the door back open with no effort. "Has it been canceled?"

"No one told us," Fili said looking from his brother to the man with a frown.

"Can-? No- nothing's been canceled," the man stammered.

"That's a relief," Kili said as he and Fili pushed their way in. The man watched them walk passed him then looked back to see Tony.

"Uh, hi," Tony said, raising a hand awkwardly.

"Well, at least you're not a dwarf."

"A what?" Tony asked with a frown. "I'm not _that_ short," he muttered. The man frowned slightly, looking even more confused than he already was, if possible. "Uh, so you're a... a hobbit?"

"Uh, yes. Bilbo Baggins," he introduced himself with a nod as he stood up straight.

"Tony Montgomery," Tony said. Bilbo motioned for Tony to come inside so he could close the door. Tony stepped inside, looking around and the small furnishings in the hall. "I have a feeling you weren't expecting those two." Bilbo closed the door and quickly followed after the brother's who'd gone further into the house, Tony followed behind him.

"Or the other two," Bilbo said.

"Other two?" Tony tilted his head. Bilbo turned to him to explain when Fili came up to him.

"Careful with these," Fili said as he took out a few sheathed blades and put them in Bilbo's arms. "I just had'em sharpened." He took out more from inside his coat then one from each boot. Tony stared as more and more blades joined the pile in Bilbo's arms.

"It's nice, this place; did you do it yourself?" Kili asked before scraping the mud off his boots on a nearby chest.

"Well- ah- no- It's been in the family for years," Bilbo said before turning to look at him. "That's my mother's glory box, could you please not do that?!"

"Fili, Kili, C'mon, give us a hand," another dwarf said as he came in from another room and put an arm around Kili. Tony stared with wide eyes.

"Mister Dwalin," Kili said with a smile. Tony followed Fili, who followed the two, to the dining room.

"Let's shove this in the hallway, otherwise we'll never get everyone to fit," Another, white haired, dwarf noted as he gestured to a china cabinet.

"Lift it," Dwalin said as he walked around the dining table.

"Where do you want this?" Kili asked.

"Ev-Everyone? How many more are there?" Bilbo asked as the dwarfs started to shift the furniture. Suddenly the door bell rang and Bilbo left to get it. One of the other dwarves took notice of Tony and frowned. Tony blinked at him, taking note of the tattoos on his head.

"Oh, Dwalin, Balin, this is Tony," Fili said.

"Hiya," Tony said. The two older dwarves still looked confused.

"Found him on the road," Kili said. "He's hungry so we brought him along."

"Well, there's plenty of food to go around," Dwalin said. "Though it looks like it won't take much," he added with a smirk.

"Hey, I may look small but I can eat three servings for supper." The dwarves laughed which made Tony frown until Fili patted him on the back.

* * *

 _A few minutes earlier_

"Where are we?" Lucy asked looking around at the small village they had entered. There were round doors in hills with little front yards but they all looked too small for people to live in.

"This is the Shire," Bofur said.

"Yeah, saying that doesn't really help," Lucy said.

"We're in Hobbiton," Dori said.

"Still doesn't help," Lucy said, shaking her head.

"I will explain later," Gandalf told her. "Right now, we're expected," he said leading the dwarves up a hill to a home with a large green door. There was a mark on it that only glowed in the moonlight. The dwarves went up to the door and Bofur rang the bell before the rest of the dwarves started to push forward. Lucy heard someone shouting from inside before they opened the door. All of the dwarves fell forward with Bombur on top. Lucy grimaced as they all groaned. Gandalf ducked his head to smile at Bilbo who was frowning. Lucy looked and her eyes widened. He was even smaller than the dwarves.

"Gandalf," he said with a sigh.

"This, Miss Montgomery, is a hobbit," Gandalf said to her. Lucy nodded but her jaw was still hanging open. The dwarves introduced themselves to Bilbo as the ones before them had, once they were done Gandalf looked at Bilbo to introduce himself to Lucy as the Dwarves walked past him.

"Oh, Bilbo Baggins," he said with a quick nod, straightening up politely.

"Lucy Montgomery." Bilbo blinked with a thoughtful look. As the two entered Lucy could see there were even more dwarves inside. There was an older one with a bright white beard, a bald buff one, and two younger looking ones. The first two introduced themselves quickly as Balin and Dwalin as the others all went into the Bilbo's pantry and brought out pretty much all of the food as he tried in vain to stop them.

Gandalf went into the dining room and helped set the table, putting down cutlery as Ori put out the plates, rubbing them with his sleeve before putting each one down. The other two dwarves Lucy had yet to meet were figuring out the best way to pick up a large barrel of ale to carry into the dining room. The dark haired one noticed her standing in the hall, out of the way, watching the commotion and gave her a smile but quickly had to focus his attention back to the barrel of ale when his brother started to lift it. Lucy approached Gandalf as he ducked into the hall she was at the edge of. He bumped into the chandelier and steadied it.

"Fili, Kili," he said as the two walked past him with the ale, they smiled at him as they walked into the dining room. Gandalf looked around to count all the dwarves on his fingers. "Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin... Bifur, Bofur, Bomber... Dori, Nori..." He looked down to see Bilbo taking a bowl from Ori. "Ori." Lucy moved out of the way of Bifur who walked up to him and said something before hitting his own arm then walking away. "Yes, you're quite right, Bifur."

"You understood that?" Lucy asked quietly. She turned to see Kili, who'd gone into the pantry, walking back to the dining room with a plate of food. He ripped a big bite out of something and stopped when noticed her standing there. He smiled at her.

"Um." Lucy tried to hide her smile as she pointed to the corner of her own mouth. Kili's eyebrows went up and he quickly put the back of his hand to his mouth to wipe away any crumbs.

"Kili! Bring that in here," a dwarf called from in the dining room. Lucy took a step to the side to get out of his way and gave him a small smile. He winked at her as he walked past her. Lucy turned to Gandalf who drank a tiny cup of wine Dori had offered him, and then looked sadly at the cup, wanting a little more. "Mm." Lucy cleared her throat and he turned to her.

"Where is my brother?" she asked. Gandalf nodded towards the dining room and Lucy saw Tony sitting down at the table as the dwarves put food down. He'd been in the bathroom and went through another way to get to the dining room. Lucy quickly walked into the dining room and took Tony by his upper arm.

"Hey-! Lucy?" He looked confused as she pulled him away from the table and into an empty hallway. Some of the dwarves looked confused while others didn't pay much attention to them.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" Lucy asked.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Tony countered yanking his arm free from her grip.

"Oh no, _you_ were here first; _you_ answer the questions," Lucy demanded as she put her hands on her hips.

"I came here with two of the dwarves; they found me in the woods. How did _you_ get here?"

"Wait you just went with them? What did I tell you about stranger danger?"

"Well then how did you get here?" Tony asked as he crossed his arms.

"Gandalf-..." Lucy stopped when she saw the smirk on Tony's face. "He said he knew where you were. You knew where I was... or should have been," Lucy said.

"Oh come on it's Fili and Kili," Tony said as if he'd known the two his entire life.

"Who- Fili and Kili?" Lucy asked as her eyebrows came together in confusion. Suddenly the two dwarves were on either side of Lucy making her jump with a small squeak. They moved to stand in front of her.

"Fili."

"And Kili." They bowed.

"At your service," they said as they smiled at her. Lucy blinked. Fili held out his hand and she hesitantly took it. He lifted her hand to his lips.

"So you're the lad's sister?" Fili asked with a smile as he released her hand.

"He never mentioned how pretty you were," Kili flirted. Lucy let out an airy laugh as she felt her face flush slightly.

"Nice to meet you two, I'm Lucy, but if you boys don't mind I'd like to have a word with my brother in private." The two nodded.

"Of course," they said. The three looked back to where Tony had been standing to find him gone.

"Wha-? Tony?" Lucy started when she saw Tony in dining room. " _To_ -!" Fili put his hand on her shoulder.

"Let the boy have his fun," Fili said.

"Come join us," Kili added with a smile.

"That's okay. I've already eaten," Lucy said. "But thank you for the offer." The two brothers nodded and went into the dining room. Soon all the dwarves were having a grand feast with all Bilbo's food. They were rather rude and messy about it.

"Bombur, catch!" Bofur shouted before throwing food. Bombur caught it in his mouth and threw his hands up in victory as everyone cheered. As everyone began throwing food around, Bilbo walked away in disgust. He looked at his pantry in shock; it had been entirely cleared of food. Lucy noticed the distressed look on Bilbo's face as he looked in his pantry and felt sorry for the hobbit.

"Don't worry; I'll help you clean up," she offered as she came to stand next to him. He looked up at her and sighed.

"You might as well help yourself to some food, before it's all gone," Bilbo said, sounding a bit dejected. Lucy frowned. Fili walked on top of the table, carrying several cups of ale and knocking aside the food in his way.

"Who wants an ale? There you go."

"Over here brother!" Kili called.

"Here you go," Fili said. When Tony picked up a mug of ale Lucy was quickly behind him and taking it from him; not a moment later another dwarf took it from her. Tony glared at his sister but she gave him a stern look.

"Let me have another drink!" Oin called.

"Here ya go," Dwalin said before he poured his ale into Oin's hearing trumpet. As Oin spluttered in anger, everyone else laughed. Oin put his hearing trumpet to his mouth and blew the ale out of it, making it squeal. One of the dwarves yelled, 'On the count of three!' and the dwarves pounded their tankards together. Someone counted, 'One!...Two!' Then all the dwarves went quiet and began drinking their ale together. They were incredibly messy, and ale poured all over their faces and ran down their beards. When they finished drinking, they began burping; Ori letting out the biggest burp. The dwarves all laughed.

"I knew ya had it in ya!" Nori shouted. Lucy looked away in disgust.

 **...**

When the feast finished, some of the dwarves left the table and spread out. Some were in the kitchen while others remained in the dining room. Lucy was out in the hallway by the kitchen. Kili, pipe in hand, noticed she was in neither room and went into the hall. He found her facing away, her arms around herself.

"It's lonely over here by yourself, isn't it?" he asked. Lucy turned and he gave her a smile. She forced a small one back.

"No offense, you're all just a lot livelier than the people I'm used to," she explained. Kili chuckled.

"I think the people you're used to aren't lively enough then," he countered. Lucy managed a smile.

"He's enjoying himself though," Lucy said as she looked to Tony, sitting at the table with a big grin as he listened to a story. "his friends went away for the summer, he hasn't had anyone to really have fun with."

"What about you?" Kili asked. "You're his sister, after all."

"We're... not as close as we once were," Lucy said as she lowered her head to stare at the ground. Kili frowned. He was about to say something when Bilbo and Gandalf came out into the hall.

"I don't want to get used to them. The state of my kitchen!" Bilbo exclaimed. "There's mud trod into the carpet, they've pi-pillaged the pantry. I'm not even going to tell you what they've done in the bathroom; they've all but destroyed the plumbing. I don't understand what they're doing in my house!"

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?" Ori asked.

"Here you go, Ori, give it to me," Fili said. He took the plate from Ori and threw it past Lucy, who jumped with a gasp, to Kili. Kili then threw it behind his back into the kitchen before throwing another. Bifur, who was standing at the sink in the kitchen - he was already cleaning up, caught both plates behind his back, without even looking them.

"Excuse me, that's my mother's West Farthing crockery, it's over a hundred years old!" Bilbo shouted. The other dwarves began throwing the plates, bowls, and utensils to each other, eventually throwing them to the sink to be washed by Bifur. As dishes flew through the air, Gandalf and Lucy ducked to avoid getting hit while Tony watched with a huge grin from the table. Lucy took a few steps backwards; Fili slipped an arm around her waist and moved her out of the way as he tossed another plate to Kili.

"Careful, luv," he said with a smirk and a wink before bouncing a bowl on his elbows then throwing it to Kili. The dwarves at the tablet began rhythmically drumming on the tablet with utensils and their fists as well as stomping their feet.

"And can-can you not do that? You'll blunt them!" Bilbo shouted. Fili threw a plate under his leg before glancing at Lucy to see her impressed expression.

"Ooh, d'hear that, lads? He says we'll blunt the knives," Bofur said. Kili began singing then his brother and soon the rest of the dwarves joined in as they continue throwing and bouncing the dishes.

 _"Blunt the knives, bend the forks_

 _Smash the bottles and burn the corks_

 _Chip the glasses and crack the plates_

 _That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!_

 _Cut the cloth and tread on the fat_

 _Leave the bones on the bedroom mat_

 _Pour the milk on the pantry floor_

 _Splash the wine on every door_

 _Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl_

 _Pound them up with a thumping pole_

 _When you've finished, if any are whole_

 _Send them down the hall to roll!"_

Bofur started playing a flute while Oin blew into a tea pot as the rest of the dwarves continued throwing dishware.

 _"That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!"_ they shouted before laughing. Bilbo huffed up in anger, and pushed through the crowd at the table, only to find all the dishes stacked neatly and cleanly. Gandalf chuckled.

"Oh look at his face-!" Kili laughed as he pointed at Bilbo. Suddenly, there were three heavy knocks on the door, and everyone fell silent.

"He is here," Gandalf said.

"Dramatic much?" Lucy muttered.

* * *

 **So if you're not new to this story you'll notice I added Tony, Fili and Kili's arrival. I'm going to add new word counts to the end of every chapter (Word count does not include top and bottom A/Ns). As I was rewatching the movie I noticed how after the song Kili goes "Oh look at his face!" but he doesn't get "face" out completely. I think I fangirled over** _ **his**_ **face during that for like 10 minutes. XD**

 **Chap 2- Old Word Count:** **2,291** **New Word Count: 3,508**

 **Last two word counts:**

 **Pro - Old Word Count: 385 New Word Count: 741**

 **Chap 1- Old Word Count: 1,696 Old Word Count: 2,139**


	4. Chapter 3

**Jemstone6259: Thank you for your reviews ^_^**

 **Thank you everyone who follows, favorites and reviews!**

 **As of 5/23/2018 I've fixed dialog grammatical errors and revised the chapter…again.**

* * *

Gandalf moved past the dwarves, who then crowded around the nearby archways facing the front door. Lucy and Tony struggled to look past them and ended up pushing through behind Bilbo to the front to get a better look. Gandalf opened the door, and there stood Thorin.

"Gandalf," he said with a smile before entering Bag End.

"Who is that?" Tony whispered to Bilbo.

"I have no idea," Bilbo whispered back with wide eyes as if to enunciate the fact that he had no idea who _any_ of the dwarves were.

"I thought you said this place would be easy to find," Thorin said. "I lost my way, twice. Wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

"Mark? There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago!" Bilbo said. Thorin took off his cloak and smiled at Fili and Kili.

"There is a mark; I put it there myself," Gandalf explained after closing the door. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

"Is that supposed to be his last name?" Tony whispered to no one in particular.

"You're surprised?" Lucy whispered back. Tony looked at her with a childish frown as if to say I-wasn't-asking- _you_.

"So, this is the Hobbit," Thorin observed as he stood in front of Bilbo. "Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you done much fighting?" he asked Bilbo as he walked around him.

"Pardon me?" Bilbo asked.

"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?"

"Well, I have some skill at Conkers, if you must know," Bilbo said as Thorin crossed his arms. "but I fail to see why that's relevant," Bilbo added.

"Thought as much. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar." The dwarves all laughed before they walked back to the dining table. Thorin stopped before he passed Lucy and Tony. He turned to Gandalf with a questioning, yet stern, look. "Why is there a woman and child present?"

"This is Lucy Montgomery and her brother, Tony," Gandalf said.

"What is their business here?" Thorin asked stepping towards him. Tony leaned up to whisper to his sister.

"Did you tell the old guy my name?" he asked. Lucy shook her head slowly as she watched the two.

"The same as yours," Gandalf told Thorin causing the dwarf to chuckle humorlessly.

"Surly you jest," he said. "You cannot expect me to allow a woman and a _child_ to accompany us."

"Rest assured it will be most beneficial to them, as it will be to you, that they do in fact come along," Gandalf said. Thorin continued to frown and shook his head.

"It is no place for them," he hissed. Gandalf gave him a look. Thorin turned and entered the dining room.

"Way to talk like we're not here," Lucy said once Thorin was out of earshot. Tony walked up to Gandalf.

"How'd you know my name?" he asked as he crossed his arms. Gandalf raised his eyebrows and hesitated.

"Why, I heard your sister say it," he said. Tony looked at him suspiciously for a moment before going back into the dining room and sitting between Bofur and Balin. As everyone else sat down, beside Bilbo, Lucy walked in and stood a few feet from Gandalf who sat across from Bofur. Thorin sat at the head of the table, between the two, and looked at Tony who simply blinked at him before looking at the table awkwardly. Dwalin brought over a bowl of food and a mug of ale for Thorin. When Thorin picked up a spoon Lucy couldn't help a small sharp exhale of a chuckle through her nose as she tried to hold back a smile. Thorin turned his head to look at her, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Sorry, it's just the first time I've seen a utensil used tonight," she explained quietly.

"Ha ha," Tony said giving her a blank look.

"Oh shut up," Lucy said as she gave him a glare which he returned. The dwarves looked between the two.

 **...**

As Thorin ate, the rest of the dwarves talked to him. Bilbo stood next to behind Gandalf and Lucy had moved to stand behind Bofur.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?" Balin asked.

"Aye. Envoys from all seven kingdoms," Thorin said. The dwarves murmured their joy.

"What do the dwarves of the Iron Hills say?" Dwalin asked. "Is Dain with us?"

"They will not come," Thorin said and the dwarves murmured in disappointment. "They say this quest is ours, and ours alone."

"You're going on a quest?" Bilbo asked.

"Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light," Gandalf requested. Bilbo nodded and brought a candle to the table, Gandalf stood and unfolded a map he'd taken from his pocket. Dwalin moved a plate out of the way.

"Wouldn't you guys rather use an actual light?" Tony asked. Everyone looked at him. "Here." Tony reached into his bag, which he'd placed on the back of his chair and tossed Gandalf his mini flashlight. Gandalf caught it in surprise as Lucy gave him a scolding look for just throwing it at the poor man.

"What is that?" Thorin asked with a frown.

"It's a light," Tony said like it was obvious. Gandalf looked at the flashlight a moment before pressing the button on the bottom. The dwarves all jumped when the light went on. Fili and Kili exchanged a look.

"Thank you... Tony," Gandalf said before clearing his throat. "Bilbo, would you...?" Gandalf held out the flashlight for Bilbo to point at the map. Bilbo took it hesitantly but nodded. Tony looked up at Lucy with a what-the-hell look and she shrugged. "Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

"The Lonely Mountain," Bilbo read.

"Aye. Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time," Gloin said. Tony stared with wide eyes as Gandalf used his finger to light his pipe before blowing out the little flame.

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end." Oin explained. Bilbo, hearing the word 'beast' looked concerned.

"Uh, what beast?" he asked as he struggled to turn off the flashlight before just handing it back to Tony who gave him an odd look as he switched it off and put it away.

"Well that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age." Bofur answered.

"What's a Smaug?" Tony asked. Bofur looked at him.

"Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meathooks, extremely fond of precious metals—"

"Yes, I know what a dragon is," Bilbo said. The siblings looked at one another.

"Dragons?" Tony mouthed. Ori suddenly stood.

"I'm not afraid! I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of the Dwarfish iron right up his jacksie!" he exclaimed. Several dwarves shouted and Dori pulled his brother down.

"Sit down!" he scolded.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest." Balin said. The dwarves started to object, saying things like, 'Hey, who are you calling dim?' 'Watch it!' and 'No!'

"What did he say?" Oin asked. Fili smacked the table.

"We may be few in number, but we're fighters, all of us, to the last dwarf!" Fili exclaimed hitting the table again.

"And you forget, we have a wizard in our company," Kili pointed out. "Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time." Everyone turned to look at the wizard.

"Oh, well, now, uh, I-I-I wouldn't say that, I- -" Gandalf stammered.

"How many, then?" Dori asked.

"Uh, what?" Gandalf asked.

"Well, how many dragons have you killed?" Dori asked. Gandalf coughed on his smoke. "Go on, give us a number!"

"Hm." Gandalf didn't answer and a bit of smoke from his pipe puffed out of his month. The dwarves jumped to their feet, arguing about the number of dragons Gandalf had killed.

" _Shazara! (Silence!)_ " Thorin bellowed as he stood, silencing the dwarves who immediately sat back down and making Tony and Lucy jump. "If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor? _Du Bekâr! Du Bekâr!_ _(To Arms! To Arms!)"_ All the dwarves cheered and Thorin sat back down.

"You forget: the front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain," Balin reminded them.

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true," Gandalf said. Twiddling his fingers, Gandalf produced a dwarvish key, ornately wrought. Thorin looked at it in wonder.

"How came you by this?" Thorin asked. Tony and Lucy shared a what-the-hell look at the way he had phrased the question.

"It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safekeeping. It is yours now," Gandalf said. He handed him the key as everyone looked on in wonder.

"If there is a key, there must be a door," Fili said. Tony snorted and Lucy swatted his shoulder. He turned to glare up at her. Gandalf pointed at runes on his map with his pipe.

"These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls."

"There's another way in!" Kili exclaimed as he put a hand on his brother's back.

"Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed," Gandalf reminded them. "The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle-earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage." He turned to look at Bilbo who looked back. "But, if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done."

"That's why we need a burglar," Ori realized.

"Hm, A good one, too. An expert, I'd imagine," Bilbo said.

"And are you?" Gloin asked him.

"Am I what?" Bilbo asked looking up.

"He said he's an expert! Hey hey!" Oin misheard him. Several of the dwarves laughed.

"M-Me? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not a burglar; I've never stolen a thing in my life."

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins. He's hardly burglar material," Balin said. Bilbo nodded in agreement.

"Aye, the wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves," Dwalin said before glancing at Lucy and Tony. Bilbo continued nodding in agreement while the dwarves began arguing again. Gandalf grew angry and rose to his full height, casting darkness over the group as started speaking in his 'powerful' voice. The others stopped in awe. Bilbo stared with his mouth wide open.

" **Enough! If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he is,** " Gandalf said. He went back to his normal voice as the lights returned to normal. "Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage." He sat back down. "You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company, and I have chosen Mr. Baggins." Bilbo continued to stare at him with wide eyes. "There's a lot more to him than appearances suggest, and he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself." He looked at Bilbo who looked confused. "You must trust me on this," Gandalf said to Thorin.

"Very well. We will do it your way," Thorin said.

"No, no, no," Bilbo protested but Thorin ignored him.

"Give him the contract," Thorin said.

"Please," Bilbo tried.

"Alright, we're off!" Bofur said. Balin handed Thorin the long contract, which Thorin then shoved to Bilbo's chest without looking back at him.

"It's just the usual summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth," Balin explained.

"Funeral arrangements?" Bilbo asked. As Bilbo stepped back a few feet to read the contract, Thorin leaned toward Gandalf and whispered to him.

"I cannot guarantee his safety," he said.

"Understood," Gandalf said.

"Nor will I be responsible for his fate," Thorin added. Gandalf hesitated slightly.

"Agreed."

"And should those..." Thorin glanced over at Lucy and Tony who had moved to stand behind Bilbo to read the contract. " _Children_ chose to sign as well..."

"I understand," Gandalf said. Bilbo read parts of the contract out loud.

"Terms: Cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth of total profit, if any. Seems fair," he said. Gandalf had an amused smile. "Eh, Present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence thereof including but not limited to lacerations ... evisceration ... incineration?"

"What's evisceration?" Tony whispered to Lucy.

"Nevermind that," Lucy muttered to him causing him to frown.

"Oh, aye, he'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye," Bofur explained in reply to Bilbo's question. Bilbo looked a little breathless.

"Huh."

"You all right, laddie?" Balin asked. Bilbo bent over, nauseous and a bit pained.

"Uh, yeah...Feel a bit faint," Bilbo said. Lucy put a hand on his back and he glanced up at her.

"Think furnace with wings," Bofur said standing up.

"Air, I-I-I need air," Bilbo said.

"Flash of light, searing pain, then Poof! you're nothing more than a pile of ash," Bofur continued.

"You're not helping," Lucy told him. Bilbo breathed heavily, trying to compose himself as the others stared at him.

"Hmmm. Nope," Bilbo said before promptly fainting. Lucy quickly caught him with wide eyes. Tony started snickering and Lucy shot him a look.

" _Wonderful_. Nice going, Bofur," Lucy scolded. Bofur hid a smile behind his pipe and a few of the dwarves snickered as well. Lucy easily lifted Bilbo, who weighted the same as a small child, and sat him in a nearby armchair. She sighed and frowned in concern at the poor hobbit. Tony picked up the contract and began reading it over.

"Anyone got a pen?" he asked looking up towards the dwarves. They looked a bit confused until he mimed writing with his hand. The dwarves erupted in laughter making Tony frown.

"Tony, we're not going with them," Lucy said as she stood. "We're going back to the camp site, getting the rest of our stuff and we're going home."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Miss Montgomery," Gandalf said. Lucy turned to him with her eyebrows raised.

"Excuse me?"

"It is not possible to return to your world," Gandalf said. The dwarves grew silent. Lucy blinked.

"O-Our world?" Lucy asked before letting out a humorless chuckle. "Hang on, you're telling me we're not in our own world? What does that even mean?"

"How is that possible?" Balin asked with a frown.

"It's not," Dwalin said.

"Awesome!" Tony said jumping up and down. "This is so cool!"

"No, Tony, this is not _cool!"_ Lucy said turning to him. Tony glared and crossed his arms. "Mom and dad are going to be worried _sick_ about us when we don't call them."

"Then call them," Tony said going over to Lucy's bag and digging around until he found a phone.

"Tony, I don't think the _flip phone_ dad gave us can cross worlds," Lucy argued. He tossed her the phone and she caught it. "Besides I doubt they even have signal here seeing as they still use candle light." She opened the phone and the light came on but the signal bar was empty. "See?" She held out the phone to show him.

"What is that?" Kili asked. Lucy snapped the phone shut.

"Nothing," Lucy said dismissively as she tossed the phone back to Tony. He caught it then turned to Gandalf.

"Hey, grey dude, can't you like make this cross words like the Doctor?" he asked as he held up the phone.

" _Tony_ ," Lucy said in a scolding tone.

"Doctor who?" Gandalf asked with a frown. Tony started snickering which made Lucy rolled her eyes but also had to hide a smile. Tony shook his head and put the phone into his bag.

"Nevermind."

"How do we get back?" Lucy asked Gandalf.

"I'm afraid I don't know," he admitted shaking his head slowly.

"Come on Lucy, live a little, we're being offered a chance to go on an adventure here," Tony said.

"You're too young for adventure," Lucy said making Tony roll his eyes. "We shouldn't even be here." A few of the dwarves actually nodded and murmured in agreement.

"I don't believe that's true, Miss Montgomery," Gandalf said.

"What do you mean by that?" Tony asked.

"Something has brought you _both_ to this world," he said. "That same something has also brought both of you, who were separated in the woods, to the _same_ house and to _this_ company. It seems you are destined to join us on this..." He smiled and looked at Tony. "Adventure."

"This is not a game!" Thorin snapped as he stood and turned to face them.

"I never suggested that it was," Gandalf said.

"You want me to take two _children_ on this journey."

"Ey! I'm an adult," Lucy snapped as she crossed her arms.

"You are of the race of men; that is not saying much," Thorin said. Lucy frowned in confusion.

"What the hell does that mean?" she asked.

"Men rarely live to be 100," Balin explained. "Us dwarves live to be closer to 200." Lucy and Tony's eyes widened. Tony turned to look at Fili and Kili.

"Then how old does that make you two? You look like your 20s," he guessed. The two chuckled but had matching looks of offence.

"I'll have you know I'm 77," Kili said.

"I'm 82," Fili said. Lucy's eyes widened and she blinked. Kili tilted his head.

"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking, Milady?" he asked. Gandalf huffed and gave Kili a disappointed frown.

"Never ask a lady her age," he scolded. Kili frowned.

"I'm almost 21," Lucy muttered.

"You _are_ a child," Dwalin laughed causing a few others to join in.

"Tony's only 12!" Lucy said, desperate to get the unwanted attention off of her.

"And the lad's a wee _baby_!" Gloin exclaimed and all the dwarves erupted in even louder laughter. Tony's face went bright red as he balled his hands into fists.

"Yeah well ... well Lucy didn't get boobs until she was 15!"

" _What?!_ _Tony!_ " Lucy shouted as her face soon began to match his complexion. "Well, Tony wet the bed _last year_!"

"I-I did not!" Tony shouted with wide eyes. "Lucy still sleeps with a teddy bear!"

"Tony picks his nose!"

"Lucy's never had a boyfriend!"

"Tony peed his pants in third grade!"

"Lucy threw up at the amusement park in sixth grade!" The two let out frustrated yells, glaring at each other, before they stormed off in opposite directions. The dwarves all remained silent and exchanged glances.

"What – what did I miss?" Bilbo asked with wide blinking eyes, the sibling's yelling had woken him. Kili and Fili exchanged glances and nodded at each other before they each went after one of the siblings. Thorin looked at Gandalf who looked away. The siblings' fight had only helped to prove Thorin's point that the two were still children.

* * *

Fili found Lucy outside of Bag End sitting on Bilbo's bench with her head in her hands. She looked up when she felt him sit down.

"Sorry you had to see that," she apologized as she looked away.

"Do you two often quarrel like that?" Fili asked.

"Quar-? Uh yeah... He just gets on my nerves," she said. "He's always bugging me, picking fights and taking my stuff and just... being a brat." Fili chuckled.

"You two may fight but in the end you're still kin, blood," he said before chuckling. "Kili used to... get on my nerves as well, but he just wanted my attention. Dwarves, we start our training when we hit 30 and when I turned 30 Kili was still 25 so he wasn't allowed to join me, and he was jealous, yes, but he just wanted to spend more time with me. Training took up most of my day when I used to spend it with him." Lucy nodded.

"My parents pressured me to learn to drive and get a job as soon as I finished high school..." Lucy noticed Fili's confused frown. "Uh, our schooling system is about 12 years, high school is years 9 to 12." Fili's eyebrows went up but he nodded. "And we have cars... like... carriages without horses that we drive."

"Carriages... without horses?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Nevermind" Lucy waved her hand. "it's a way of getting around and where I'm from people can't get a license to drive one until they're 16. So anyway, I used to spend every day after school with Tony either playing games or helping him with homework he brought home from school. Now the time I would normally spend with Tony I spend at work and when I get home he's already in bed. It's not my fault that I start work after I pick him up from school. Those are the hours I was given." Fili nodded.

"Our father focused on my training more since I'm the oldest," Fili said. "That probably bothered Kee the most, that I was getting all the attention."

"It's the opposite with me and Tony; once I got a job and started making money my parents were satisfied and switched their attention to Tony, always talking about his grades and sports or clubs they want him to try. He hates it," Lucy said as she shook her head slightly. "He'd probably hate it either way though... did you every have to convince Kili not to do something dangerous?"

"Well, Kili would always want to come hunting with me all the time when we were younger but I never let him because I was afraid he'd get hurt. He didn't understand that at the time he just thought I didn't want him to come with me; he didn't stop to think about the reason why and even if he had he wouldn't have seen it as being as dangerous as I did. I think it's the same way with Tony." Lucy looked at him. "He sees this journey as fun and exciting but you and I know that it could be very dangerous." Lucy nodded. "In a few years he'll understand, you just have to wait." Fili said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "I promise you it will get better," he said.

"Can it get better sooner?" Lucy asked which made Fili chuckle.

"That is up to you." He took his hand from her shoulder and stood. He held out his hand to her. "Let's go back inside." He said with a smile. Lucy nodded and took his hand.

"Thank you."

"For?"

"Coming out here to talk to me. I normally just wait until Tony cools down." Fili frowned.

"Until he gets cold?" he questioned as he tilted his head.

"Uh no, calms down, I mean," Lucy rephrased. Fili nodded. "I guess this is another world. I feel like I'm going to have to rephrase a lot of things," she added with a small smile. Fili chuckled. The two entered the house and Fili gave Lucy's hand a squeeze before letting go and walking into the dining room. Lucy hadn't even noticed he had been holding her hand.

 **...**

Kili found Tony in one of Bilbo's rooms sitting in a chair.

"She means well," he said as he leaned against the door frame. Tony glanced over before going back to glaring at the wall.

"Yeah right. She just doesn't want me to have any fun. She ruins _everything_."

"She's just looking out for you," Kili said as he entered the room. He took a seat on the bed across from Tony. "You have to understand... this journey we're going on, it's as my uncle said, it is no game. We're going to be reclaiming the mountain from a dragon ...Do you have those in your world?" Tony shook his head. "Then you cannot possibly imagine the danger you and your sister could be in. She's just trying to protect you. Fili was the same when we were younger. It's their job as the older sibling to look out for us."

"Yeah, but ever since she turned 18 she's been acting like she's my mom but worse. She's all responsibility and never lets me have any fun."

"Eighteen?"

"That's when people are adults in our world," Tony explained.

"Ah," Kili said with a nod. "Becoming an adult comes with a lot of responsibility. She's just trying to do what she thinks is right, what's best for you; she's trying to help."

"Yeah well I hate it," Tony said crossing his arms with a pout.

"One day you'll be grateful," Kili said.

" _Sure_."

"You'll see," Kili told him. "Fili kept me out of all sorts of trouble when we were children and took the blame for most things." he added with a chuckle.

"Yeah well..." Tony stopped. Lucy _had_ kept him out of getting in trouble the past few years. Whenever he'd done something wrong Lucy had either made sure there was no evidence of it or she came up with some excuse for their parents. Kili smiled as he stood.

"Come on; let's get back to the others."

"I'm not going to apologize," Tony said.

"I never said you had to." Tony sat there for a minute then got up and followed Kili back. On the way they passed Bilbo who was going to his room.

* * *

The dwarves gathered in Bilbo's living room, smoking their pipes by the fire. Tony saw Lucy sitting in the dining room with her head down on her arms and sat on the other end of the table. When Lucy didn't lift her head he put his down, on his arms as well. The dwarves all began humming, and soon Thorin began to sing, and the others joined him on the second stanza, standing. Gandalf listened from nearby, Bilbo listened from his bedroom, and the siblings listened from the dining room.

 _"Far over the misty mountains cold_

 _To dungeons deep and caverns old_

 _We must away ere break of day_

 _To find our long-forgotten gold_

 _The pines were roaring on the height_

 _The winds were moaning in the night_

 _The fire was red, it flaming spread_

 _The trees like torches blazed with light"_

* * *

 **Old Word Count: 3,494** **New Word Count: 4,526**


	5. Chapter 4

**Jemstone6259: yeah, I realized those two scenes should be longer and I just couldn't think of anything but I went back and added some to each of them if anyone is interested (added about 500 words but mostly Lucy and Fili's) (I realized I should've waited until I thought of something but I wanted to get a chapter up, plus the chapter was already 4,000 words)**

 **As of 5/23/2018 I've fixed dialog grammatical errors and revised the chapter…again.**

* * *

Lucy woke the next morning and when she went to move she was immediately in pain. She sat up stiffly and slowly moved her neck from side to side. Lucy blinked when a blue cloak fell down behind her as she straightened up. She looked across the table to see Tony sleeping with a similar cloak covering him.

"It wasn't a dream..." she muttered quietly.

"The two of you fell asleep." Lucy looked over to see Gandalf ducking into the room. "They didn't want to disturb you." She noticed the dwarves were cleaning up the mess they'd made the night before. Lucy looked towards the window to see the sun was just about coming up. "We'll be leaving soon." Lucy looked back at Tony who remained asleep. "If you wish to come with us..."

"Do you think we'll find a way home?" Lucy asked as she stood and folded the cloak. "I mean on the way?"

"Maybe, maybe not... or perhaps you'll find something more," Gandalf said. Lucy looked back at Tony as she held the cloak to her chest.

"He'll never let me here the end of this," she muttered.

 **...**

Tony was brimming with excitement as he pulled on his coat and backpack. Lucy sighed as she walked to get her bag. She found a hair tie and pulled her hair up into a pony tail before closing her bag. She still held the cloak in her arms and looked around to see which dwarf didn't have one to put on. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around to see Fili smiling at her.

"You looked cold last night," he said. She smiled and handed him the cloak.

"Thank you," she said as he put it on.

"So, you'll be joining us?"

"Yes, as much as I'd rather keep Tony safe..."

"I can't promise his safety but we'll be there look out for him, for you as well," he said. Lucy nodded.

"Thank you," she said. Fili smiled.

"So, we have 16 ponies for the journey one is for supplies and one is for Mister Baggins should he decide to join us." Lucy tilted her head, wondering where he was going with this. "I was wondering if you would like to ride with me? You're small enough to fit." Lucy smiled.

"A dwarf just told me I was small enough." The two chuckled. "Sure." She nodded. "I don't really know how to ride was anyways, I'd probably fall off if I was on by myself," she added with a chuckle.

"I won't let you fall," Fili assured her as he smiled at her and Lucy swallowed as her face flushed.

"I'll uh... meet you outside," she said quickly before she grabbed her bag and hurried out of the room. Kili came over with a chuckle.

"She's running from you already, brother?" he teased. Fili rolled his eyes and smacked his brother's shoulder playfully. "I'm going to ask if she wants to ride with-"

"Too late," Fili interrupted with a smirk. "She's already agreed to ride with _me_. You'll have to ride with Tony." He patted Kili on the back twice and Kili frowned as Fili walked away.

* * *

The dwarves were riding their ponies, Gandalf on his horse, down a path through a wooded area. A few words of conversation could be heard, including 'waste of time' and 'use a hobbit'. Lucy could hear Bofur snickering at her red face as she sat in front of Fili; he had one of his arms around her and the other was holding the reins while she hugged her backpack to her. Tony and Kili, on the other hand, were both frowning as Tony sat behind Kili; Tony held onto the back of Kili's cloak with one hand just as a precaution. Suddenly the group heard Bilbo as he ran up from behind the group.

"Wait! Wait!" he shouted. Some dwarves called 'Woah!' and stopped their ponies. Bilbo caught up to them and handed Balin the contract. "I signed it!" Balin took the contract and inspected it with a pocket-glass then smiled at Bilbo.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield," Balin said. The dwarves cheered quietly but Thorin didn't look impressed.

"Give him a pony," he said.

"No, no, no, no, that-that won't be necessary, thank you, but I-I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I- I-I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once-WAGH!" Bilbo was cut off as Fili and Kili rode alongside him and picked him up from either side to put him on the free pony behind them. Tony laughed while Lucy looked sorry for Bilbo.

 **...**

Bilbo rode a pony and looked quite uncomfortable. The pony neighed and tossed its head, making him grimace. Gandalf had moved back to ride alongside him.

"Come on, Nori, pay up. Go on," Oin said. Nori tossed a sack of coins to Oin; sacks of money began passing between the dwarves. 'Hey, hey, hey!' Some of the dwarves laughed.

"What's that about?" Bilbo asked.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up. Most of them bet that you wouldn't," Gandalf said.

"What did you think?" Bilbo said.

"Hmmm." Gandalf caught a sack of money tossed to him and chuckled as he tossed it up in his hand once before he put it in his bag. "My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second." Bilbo sneezed loudly.

"Ohh. All this horse hair, I'm having a reaction," Bilbo said. He searched his pockets for his handkerchief. He was unable to find it, and he looked up in shock. "No, no, wait, wait, stop! Stop! We _have_ to turn around," he insisted. The entire company came to a halt, and the dwarves objected and asked what the problem was.

"What on earth is the matter?" Gandalf asked.

"I forgot my handkerchief." Bofur tore a strip of cloth from his clothing and tossed it to Bilbo

"Here! Use this," he said. Bilbo caught the rag and looked at it in disgust.

"Move on," Thorin said and everyone started moving again.

"You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end," Gandalf told him. "You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead."

"Bilbo," Lucy called. He looked back at her as she tossed him a small packet. He frowned at it slightly, in confusion, before looking back at her.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Tissues," Lucy said. "I don't have a handkerchief but you can use those."

"Oh-" Bilbo looked surprised and blinked. "oh, thank you Miss Montgomery, very much," he said as he took one from the little plastic packet and wiped his nose.

"Just Lucy please," she insisted. He nodded with a smile.

"What else've you got in there?" Fili asked as he leaned his face over her shoulder, putting his face by hers and his lips to her ear in the process. She stiffened slightly as her face became a deeper shade of red. He glanced at her and noticed which made him chuckle, also in her ear. She moved away slightly to turn her head to look at him. He smirked at her. Tony looked over and made a 'bleh' noised while sticking his tongue out and Kili rolled his eyes.

* * *

The first night they camped out the siblings helped the dwarves unpack their ponies, Lucy helped Bombur pass out dinner bowls. After a very loud dinner, filled with laughing and stories that neither Lucy or Tony understood the context for, it was time for bed.

"Wish we had our sleeping bags," Tony said with a frown when he noticed the dwarves laying out their bed rolls.

"Miss Lucy, if you would like, I'll gladly let you use my bed roll," Fili offered her with a smile. "I'd hate to see you sleeping on the dirt."

"Oh, no no, that's okay," Lucy said as she shook her head and put her hands up slightly. She noticed Thorin, who sat against a tree, looking over with a stern expression and swallowed.

"I insist," Fili said.

"Really, I couldn't," Lucy said giving him a smile. "I would feel bad if you had to sleep on the dirt."

"Doesn't bother me," Fili said as he shook his head. Tony turned to Kili who was unrolling his bed roll.

"You gunna offer yours to me?" Tony asked before he scoffed he walked to the far end of the camp, the furthest away from Lucy.

"Fili, really, you keep it. Thank you for the offer though," Lucy said before following Tony's example and going to the opposite end of the camp from Tony. Fili and Kili exchanged looked.

...

The next morning Kili woke Lucy by gently shaking her shoulder.

"Five more minutes, mom," she muttered into her bag, that she was using as a pillow.

"I would love to give you five more minutes but it's time to get up," Kili said. Lucy's eyes popped open and she looked up at him. He gave her a smile as she sat up and chuckled as she tried to fix her hair. "Your hair looks fine," he told her and grinned when her face flushed. On the other side of the camp the dwarves started laughing and the two looked over to see Tony had taken off his shirt to change it from his black one to his lighter grey one.

"There's barely any meat on his bones!" Dwalin exclaimed as he laughed with the others.

"I'm still growing!" Tony shouted with a pout. "I have to get _taller_ before I start getting bigger," he said as he pulled on his other shirt before stuffing his black one in his bag.

"At least he has the right idea in changing," Lucy noted as she opened her bag. Kili watched her, trying to get a peek inside the bag, as she pulled out a thick strapped blue tank top.

"What's that?"

"A shirt," Lucy said with a frown. Kili blinked.

"That's..." he swallowed. "Rather _small_ to be a shirt, don't you think?"

"It's a tank top."

"A what?" Kili frowned. "Where are the sleeves?"

"It's a sleeveless top," Lucy explained as she looked in her bag for something else. Kili's eyebrows were raised as he blinked. He swallowed again when she pulled out a pair of shorts.

"And those are?" he asked.

"Shorts," Lucy said with a frown. "I guess clothing is really different here."

"And these shorts are... for?"

"To wear in place of these," Lucy said with a laugh as she pointed to her jeans. Kili's face flushed.

"Bu-But they're so small, so... short," he said.

"That's the point. It got kinda hot out yesterday so I figured I'd wear these," Lucy said. "Tony changed into his," she added as she noticed Tony had in fact changed into his basketball shorts. Kili glanced over at Tony then quickly back to Lucy.

"His go down to his knees," he said with wide eyes. "Those..." he pointed at the shorts in her hands. "don't look like they will."

"Come on," Thorin said loudly to everyone. The ponies were already all packed up and ready to go.

"I'm just gunna go change real quick," Lucy said as she stood. Kili stood with her and swallowed. Thorin noticed Lucy heading into the woods and frowned.

"Where are you going?" he called after her. She glanced back and saw he was talking to her.

"I'm just changing my clothes," she called back. "I'll be like two seconds."

"One two!" Tony called.

"Tony, shut up," Lucy called as she went behind a tree. A few minutes later she headed back and noticed it was a lot quieter. She looked around and noticed all the dwarves staring at her. When she looked at them they looked away. Kili and Fili, on the other hand, couldn't stop staring.

"Oh dear," Bilbo squeaked as his eyebrows shot up and he looked away. Fili looked away then nudged Kili roughly when he didn't.

"What?" Lucy asked as she put her clothes in her bag.

"What are you wearing?" Thorin asked with a deep frown.

"Clothes?"

"Wait, is this like a world where women only where dresses and stuff?" Tony asked with a laugh. Lucy crossed her arms and sent him a glare.

"We're going to be outside in the sun, wearing pants and a black shirt makes it too hot," Lucy explained. "I'll change back when it's cooler."

"You're still riding with me, right?" Fili asked. Thorin sent his nephew a hard look and Fili cleared his throat as he looked away from Lucy.

"Uh, yeah, if that's okay?" Lucy looked between Thorin and Fili, not missing the stern warning look the older was giving the younger. Thorin said something in dwarvish and everyone mounted their ponies. Fili got on behind Lucy and swallowed as he put his arm around her like the day before. "You okay back there?" Lucy asked him as she glanced back at him.

"Oh yes, fine, fine," he said flashing her a smile.

"You're sure? You look a little flushed. Are my clothes really that inappropriate?" Lucy asked. "They're normal where I'm from."

"I'd like to go there one day," Kili said as he rode beside his brother.

"I guess I'll just wear my other pants from now on," Lucy said.

"I don't mind your clothes," Kili told her with a smile.

"Thanks."

"Pervert," Tony muttered with a deep frown. Kili looked offended.

"I was just complimenting her," he said defensively.

* * *

Later that week, the Company camped out by a cliff. As Gloin slept, tiny flying insects were sucked into his mouth every time he inhaled, and they were expelled when he exhaled. Bilbo watched in disgust, then finally got up and stretched before he walked around. Most of the dwarves were asleep; a few were awake, including Fili, and Kili who sat by the fire. Gandalf was smoking his pipe against a nearby tree. Bilbo walked over to his pony and gave her an apple, after checking to see that no one was looking.

"Hello, girl. That's a good girl. It's our little secret, Myrtle; you must tell no one. sh, sh," Bilbo said to her. Bilbo heard a scream in the night air and became worried. Lucy, who sat with her chin on her knees behind Kili and next to Fili, lifted her head. Bilbo looked over at the two brothers.

"What was that?" Bilbo asked.

"Orcs," Kili said. Another scream sounded.

"Orcs?" Bilbo asked as he hurried over to them. Thorin, who was dozing, jerked awake upon hearing the word 'Orcs.'

"I don't like the sound of that," Lucy muttered.

"Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them," Fili said.

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood," Kili said. Lucy swallowed and hugged her knees tighter to her chest. Bilbo looked away in fright; Fili and Kili looked at each other and began chuckling. Lucy lightly kicked Kili's back and he turned to grin at her. His grin faded slightly when he saw her expression.

"You think that's funny?" Thorin asked. Kili looked forward and frowned. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" he asked.

"We didn't mean anything by it," Kili said before lowering his eyes.

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world," Thorin growled as he walked away to the edge of the cliff to look out over the valley. Fili nudged Lucy's foot with his and gave her an apologetic look. She lowered her head onto her knees again. Balin walked up to Fili and Kili.

"Don't mind him, laddie," Balin said to Bilbo. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first." Balin proceeded to tell Bilbo about the battle of Moria and Azog, the Defiler and how Azog had beheaded Thorin's grandfather, the king. "Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us." Balin then started to smile. "That is when I saw him: a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armor rent...wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield-"

"Is that where he got his name from?" Tony asked quietly. Balin looked at Tony, who was leaning up on his elbow, and nodded.

"Azog, the Defiler, learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, nor song, that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow. There is one I could call King." Balin looked to Thorin as Thorin turned away from the view beyond the cliff; the entire Company was awake and standing, staring at him. Thorin walked between them toward the fire.

"But the pale orc? What happened to him?" Bilbo asked.

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago," Thorin said as he walked back to his previous resting place. Balin and Gandalf shared a look. Fili sat back down next to Lucy and nudged her foot again and she lifted her head.

"Didn't mean to frighten you before," he said quietly. Kili also sat down and turned to face Lucy.

"You don't have orcs in your world, do you?" he asked. Lucy shook her head.

"We only have humans... man," she said. The two brothers frowned curiously.

"Only Men?" Kili asked.

"Must have been quiet the shock to see us then," Fili said. Lucy nodded and hugged her knees tighter. "Cold?" Lucy shook her head. Kili scooted back so he was on her other side.

"We'll keep you warm," he said with a friendly smirk before both brothers scooted a bit closer to her.

"Thanks guys," she said quietly and they both smiled.

"Feel free to use my shoulder as your pillow," Kili whispered. Lucy shifted and leaned her head on Kili's shoulder. Kili smirked at Fili who rolled his eyes.

"What else is there?" Lucy whispered.

"How do you mean?" Fili asked.

"Besides dwarves, man, hobbits and... orcs... what else is there."

"Well..." Fili said.

"There 're elves," Kili said.

"Elves?" Tony asked. He moved closer to the three and sat on the other side of the fire. "You mean the lil short pointy eared things?" The two brothers shared a look.

"That's hobbits," Fili said before pointing to Bilbo who looked up with a frown. Tony frowned.

"No. I mean like half your size, they wear bells on their shoes and pointy hats," Tony said.

"Tony, you're thinking of Santa's elves," Lucy said with a chuckle. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Same thing," he said.

"Who's Santa?" Kili asked. "A friend of yours?" Tony stared at Kili in shock making Kili raise his eyebrows and look down at Lucy. "What? Who is he?" Lucy giggled quietly. Kili looked at Fili who shrugged.

"He's just a story parents tell their children so they'll be good to get presents on Christmas," Lucy explained.

"Christmas?" Fili asked. Tony's mouth fell open and he looked like he was going to have a heart attack as he dramatically put a hand to his chest.

"Tony, this world is different than ours, they're not gunna have the same holidays and such," Lucy said.

"I know but... _come on,_ you guys don't know what _Christmas_ is?" Tony asked. The brothers shook their heads. "What about Hanukah?" They shook their heads again.

"Pretty sure if they don't know what Christmas is they won't know what Hanukah is either," Lucy said. Tony shrugged.

"Never know," he muttered.

"Hang on," Kili said. "Back to this Santa fellow."

"Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, whatever you wanna call him is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children on December 24th, the night before Christmas Day." The two brothers nodded. Lucy noticed that a few of the other dwarves had started to listen to her.

"Tell us more about your world, Miss Lucy," Ori said.

"Like what?" Lucy asked. She lifted her head from Kili's shoulder making him frown.

"How about music, what kind of music is there?" Bofur asked.

"There's lots," Lucy said.

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet, there's a bunch of different types: Pop, Rock, Hip hop, Rap, Dubstep,"

"Sounds like a type of dance if you ask me," Nori said.

"Could you play us any?" Bofur asked. Tony shook his head with a frown.

"We don't have anything to play. Our parents didn't want us to bring anything fun related for our trip," he said. "That included music."

"Could ya sing us something then?" Bofur asked. Tony Suddenly Tony smirked and turned to Lucy who's eyes widened. She gave him a look that read don't-you-dare.

"Lucy can sing," Tony said. Lucy glared at her brother who continued to smirk.

"Come on then lass," Bofur said with a smile.

"Yeah, sing for us," Kili said with a smile. Lucy started shaking her head.

"Aw come on."

"Please, just one song?"

"Come on," Fili said with a smile as he nudged her gently with his elbow. "What's the harm?"

"I don't know what to sing," she said. Tony looked up as he thought.

"Sing something Ed Sheeran, that's always nice."

"Only if _you_ sing something too."

"No way," Tony said crossing his arms.

"Then I'm not singing," Lucy said. The dwarves all sounded disappointed and started urging Tony to agree, even Dwalin.

"Fine. Fine, I'll do it... geez." Tony said as he rolled his eyes.

"You have to do _Northern Downpour_."

"Fine," Tony groaned. "You have to do _Photograph_." Lucy nodded.

"What's a photograph?" Ori asked.

"It's a picture," Tony said.

"Like a drawing?"

"Uh yeah but not a drawing," Tony said.

"Alright, quick lesson before I sing then." Lucy said pulling her bag to her and pulling out the flip phone. "Two things. One, this is a phone. We use them in our world for long distance communication. Two," she opened the phone and turned it on; she was surprised it still had some battery left. She clicked through it and pulled up a picture she'd taken of Tony holding up a soccer trophies. "This is a photograph. Well a digital one, there's also physical ones you can hold." She said as she held out the phone for the dwarves to see. They stared in wonder.

"There's a mini Tony in that thing," Kili said.

"And 'Jeans' the type of pants we're wearing," Tony added pointing to his own jeans. "Alright, now that everyone knows what a photograph is, you can sing." Tony said as Lucy put the phone away. Lucy nodded and before closed her eyes and took a breath.

 _"Loving can hurt  
Loving can hurt sometimes  
But it's the only thing that I know  
When it gets hard  
You know it can get hard sometimes  
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive..." _The dwarves slowly sat up from their bed rolls and turned to watch her as they listened. Thorin opened his eyes as he listened, looking up at the stars. Tony had closed his eyes and a small smile came to his face. Fili and Kili listened, their mouths falling open slightly.

 _"When I'm away  
I will remember how you kissed me  
Under the lamppost  
Back on 6th street  
Hearing you whisper through the phone,  
'Wait for me to come home.'..." _Lucy opened her eyes to see the dwarves all staring at her.

"That bad, huh?" she asked sheepishly.

"No, lass, you've a very nice voice," Bofur said with a smile.

"Very pretty," Dori said with a smile.

"Beautiful," Kili said. She turned to see him and his brother staring at her in awe.

"Okay, Tony's turn," Lucy said as her face flushed.

"Damn," Tony said hoping she'd forgotten.

"After this," Everyone looked to Thorin as he spoke. "All of you get to sleep." Everyone nodded. Lucy saw Thorin look at her and looked at the fire quickly. Tony cleared his throat.

 _"If all our life is but a dream  
Fantastic posing greed  
Then we should feed our jewelry to the sea  
For diamonds do appear to be  
Just like broken glass to me..." _Lucy smiled as Tony tapped the beat on his crossed legs as he sang.

 _"Hey moon, please forget to fall down  
Hey moon, don't you go down  
You are at the top of my lungs  
Drawn to the ones who never yawn..."_

The dwarves began clapping. Tony jumped up and bowed dramatically.

"See Tony, you got a round of applause," Lucy said with a smile. Tony grinned back.

"Would you sing us another, Miss Lucy?" Ori asked.

"I told you all to go to sleep," Thorin said.

"Then how about a lullaby?" Ori asked quietly.

"To fall asleep to Lucy's lovely voice would be a dream," Kili said leaning over to her ear making her blush. Thorin sighed.

"If she knows one and you all lie down," he said after a moment of silence. Everyone returned to their bed rolls. "Fili, Kili, you're still on watch."

"Right, we won't fall asleep," Fili said.

"I'll have to fall asleep to your voice another night, princess," Kili whispered making Lucy rolled her eyes but smile. Tony laid down and closed his eyes. He smiled as he heard Lucy start to sing the familiar lullaby she used to sing to him when he was younger.

 _Little child, be not afraid  
The rain pounds harsh against the glass  
Like an unwanted stranger  
There is no danger  
I am here tonight_

... ... ... ... ... ...

 _Everything's fine in the morning  
The rain will be gone in the morning  
But I'll still be here in the morning_

At some point Kili's head fell on Lucy's shoulder and by the end of the song Lucy's head fell on Fili's shoulder. He smiled down at the two before looking out at the rest of the sleeping dwarves.

* * *

 **If you remember the old story you'll notice I changed the two songs (last one is the same)**

 **If you're interested in hearing the songs I found covers that sound like how I imagine Lucy and Tony would sound. Just add these link parts to the end of a youtube link (obviously just pretend there's no guitars.)**

 **Lucy (Photograph) - /watch?v=qdGcvR-PSa4**

 **Tony (Northern Downpour) - /watch?v=gGby3PHdvK8**

 **If you remember the old story you'll notice I changed the two songs (last one is the same)**

 **Old Word Count: 3,533 New Word Count: 4,444**


	6. Chapter 5

**This one's a long one. I originally was going to wait a long time to post this since it's so long but instead I'm going to wait to post the next one since it's so long. In the meantime I'll be working on my new Lord of the Rings (Not Hobbit) fic 'Daughter of Starlight' in case anyone's interested.**

 ** **As of 5/24/2018 I've fixed dialog grammatical errors and revised the chapter...again.****

* * *

The ponies trudged through the mud as the company rode in a down pour. They were all cold, wet, and miserable. The only ones who didn't mind the rain were Fili, Lucy, Kili, Tony, Bilbo and Ori. Both Lucy and Tony had taken out their travel size umbrellas to shield themselves and the dwarves they were riding with. Bilbo and Ori were wearing the two raincoats the siblings had brought; Tony had given his to Bilbo since his was a bit smaller than Lucy's and Lucy had given hers to Ori.

"Got any more of those in that bag of yours?" Nori asked.

"Sorry, we've only the two of each," Lucy said.

"Glad you choose to ride with me," Fili said as he leaned down to smile at Lucy. She smiled back shyly.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" Dori asked.

"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done," Gandalf replied. "If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard."

"Are there any?" Bilbo asked.

"What?"

"Other wizards?"

"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two Blue Wizards; you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"And who is the fifth?"

"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."

"Is he a great Wizard or is he...more like you?" Bilbo asked. Tony didn't even try to muffle his laughter. Gandalf looked slightly offended.

"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look to find a foothold in this world."

"I think we should take turns with those things," Nori suggested as he looked at Tony and Kili who rode next to him.

"You should've brought your own," Tony said. Lucy sighed.

"Tony, obviously these don't exist here," she said.

"That's not _my_ fault," Tony said with a frown.

"Maybe we _should_ share them," Lucy said but Fili shushed her.

"No need to start talking nonsense, luv."

"It won't kill you to get wet, _princess_ ," Lucy said as she rolled her eyes. Kili started snickering. Fili looked mock offended.

"I just don't want _you_ to get sick," Fili explained. "Dwarves don't get sick from a little rain, you on the other hand... I'm just looking out for _your_ well being."

"Alright, alright," Lucy said. "Next time it rains I'll just ride with someone else then." Fili frowned and Kili started laughing. Fili glared at his brother playfully then shook his head.

...

Later that evening, well after the rain had stopped, the group stopped to make camp. Thorin walked up Lucy who was helping Bombur get his supplies off the ponies.

"Girl." She didn't respond. " _Girl_." Lucy turned and raised an eyebrow at him before going back to helping Bombur. Thorin frowned. "I am speaking to you."

"Hm?" Lucy turned again. "Oh I'm sorry, I don't respond to _girl._ I _do_ however respond to a _little_ something called _my name_ , ever heard of it?" she asked before she turned away. Thorin blinked. He sighed before closing his eyes.

"Lucy," he said. Her name sounded odd on his tongue. Lucy smiled and turned to him once more.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Follow me," he ordered. Lucy blinked but followed him a little ways away from the group before he stopped. He took out his sword and held it out to her. She looked from him to the sword and back. He rolled his eyes. "Take it."

"Uh... why?"

"You need to know how to defend yourself."

"I don't think I can use your sword even just for practice."

"Why not?" Thorin asked with a frown.

"Well, for one thing it looks really heavy," Lucy said. Thorin rolled his eyes again and held it out to her again.

"Just take the sword."

"Alright." Lucy took it and the blade automatically hit the ground with a thud making her eyes widen. "How the heck do you hold this thing?" Lucy said with a frown.

"Lift it," Thorin commanded. She tried but she was off balance and had to lower it after a few seconds. Thorin didn't exactly look surprised but rather annoyed.

"Maybe I should try something else?" she suggested with a sheepish smile.

"We'll just have to find you a lighter sword."

"Do you have one?" she asked. Thorin let out a short sigh.

"No."

"Sorry," Lucy said as she looked down at her feet.

"Just try to stay out of trouble until we can get you a sword or other means to defend yourself," he said before he took his sword back.

"I have a knife."

"A knife will do you no good against a pack of orcs," Thorin said before he walked away. Lucy sighed and sat down by the newly lit fire as Bombur started to prepare dinner. She rummaged around in her bag a bit.

"Oh good," she breathed with a small smile. Bombur looked down at her.

"Hm?" he hummed as he blinked.

"Oh, I was worried my books were damaged from all the rain this morning," she said.

"Did you say books?" Bilbo asked as he walked over. Lucy nodded.

"Bookworm," Tony muttered.

"There's nothing wrong with liking to read," Lucy said as she frowned at him.

"I agree," Bilbo said as he sat down by her. "What books do you have?"

"Oh, I'm not sure you'd recognize them," Lucy said as she pulled the three paperback books out. "What kind of books do you like?"

"Oh, anything," Bilbo said with a smile.

"I get the feeling he'd have a field day at our town's library," Tony said.

"A-A what?" Bilbo asked with a concerned frown.

"He means you'd enjoy yourself," Lucy clarified. "Our town has this _gigantic_ library, walls and walls of books."

"How big is this library?" Ori asked.

"Oh... I'd say from..." Tony stood. "That tree with the squirrel on it back there." He said as he pointed. "To..." he turned and looked around. "That big rock way over there and from... that tree with the broken branch to... _that_ tree," he said as he pointed.

"And it's two floors, about as tall as... four Gandalfs," Lucy said. The wizard looked over from his spot against a tree upon hearing his name.

"That's huge," Ori said with wide eyes as he came over and sat down beside Bilbo.

"And it's wall to wall with books?" Bilbo asked with his eyes equally wide. Lucy nodded.

"Yep, then there's the book shelves spread out throughout it too," she said. Bilbo's mouth fell open in shock and Lucy chuckled.

"How many books... that has to be..." Bilbo blinked as he tried to imagine how many books could possibly be in such a magnificent library.

"What books do you have?" Ori asked, bringing Bilbo out of his thoughts.

"I only brought three; wish I brought more though. They're adventure and fantasy books. I brought the first of seven _Harry Potter_ books, _The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe_ and _Peter Pan_.

"What are they about?" Dori asked as he sat next to his brother.

"Oh she can tell you about _all_ _seven_ of the _Harry Potter_ books," Tony said.

"Thank you, Tony," Lucy said as she gave him a look to which he gave her a thumbs up. Lucy shook her head with a slight smile. "Well _Harry Potter_ is about a boy who learns he's a wizard and goes to a wizarding school."

"Gandalf might like that one," Bilbo said.

"These are a different kind of wizard," Lucy said. "Um, _The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe_ is about four children who are sent to the countryside during World War II. They find this wardrobe that takes them to Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mystical beasts, and talking animals."

"We've got magic and mystical beasts," Bofur said.

"You said _World_ _War_ _Two_?" Dwalin asked with a frown.

"Oh yeah, our world sucks," Tony said. "We've had World War I, World War II, Cold War, Civil War, Revolutionary War..."

"Way to go in order, Tone," Lucy said which made Tony roll his eyes.

"There were a bunch of others but our country wasn't involved with all of them," Tony said.

"How was the war civil?" Gloin asked with a confused frown.

"Well it was our own country against itself," Tony explained. By now the rest of the other dwarves were listening, even Thorin. "North and South didn't agree for four years."

"What is the longest war your country has had?" Dwalin asked.

"The American Indian Wars lasted like 300 years," Lucy said.

"Why do you know that?" Tony asked.

"I paid attention in History class."

" _Why_?" Tony asked as he looked at her like she was insane.

"Because I actually _wanted_ to graduate high school," Lucy said as she gave Tony a look. "There was a war that last 38 minutes. Our country wasn't involved but it was still the shortest war in history."

"Thirty eight minutes?" Oin asked. "Did I hear that right?"

"What are your armies like?" Gloin asked.

"Well we used to have the best out there but our uh... leader cut back," Lucy answered.

"Why?" Dwalin asked with a frown.

"Don't ask me," Lucy said with a shrug.

"What is the other book about?" Ori asked.

"Oh _Peter Pan_ , it's about a boy never wants to grow up so he runs away to Neverland. He can fly and is friends with a fairy named Tinker Bell."

"Odd name," Dori said.

"You're one to talk," Tony muttered.

"A fairy?" Ori asked.

"Mhm," Lucy hummed.

"Your books have elves in them?" Bilbo asked.

"Well, some do, why do you ask?"

"Well you said this Peter was friends with one."

"No, I said a fairy," Lucy said with a frown.

"Oh well, Hobbits call Elves fairies," Bilbo explained.

"Oh well I mean the little tiny winged creatures," Lucy said. "They look like humans but with wings and most of the time they have pointed ears."

"How tiny are they?" Ori asked.

"Um..." Lucy held up two hands and put about four inches between them. Bilbo's eyes widened. "What's wrong? What's the smallest thing here?"

"Me," Bilbo said. "Well, Hobbits."

"Would you read us one of these books, Miss Lucy?" Ori asked.

"It might take a while and we all need sleep," Lucy said.

"This is going to be a long journey," Bofur pointed out.

"I want to learn more about your world," Kili said.

"We could alternate," Fili suggested. "Some nights Lucy can read to us and others she and Tony can tell us about their home."

"And maybe some nights she can sing us to sleep," Kili said with a smile.

"Let's not get carried away," Lucy said as she tried to hide the colour that came to her cheeks. Kili chuckled.

"So you will read to us then?" Ori asked with a smile.

"How can I say no to that face?" Lucy smiled at him. He tried to hide his smile, shyly. "Which one do you want me to start with?"

"What about that wizard?" Bilbo suggested. "I'm interested in hearing your world's type of wizards."

"Oh well, we don't have wizards actually," Lucy clarified with a sad smile.

"At least, Muggles like us wouldn't know," Tony said.

"What's a Muggle?" Kili asked.

"Oh boy," Tony muttered.

* * *

After dinner one night the next week, Ori sat down next to Lucy by the fire.

"Would you read to us some more?" he asked.

"Of course, sweetheart," Lucy said as she smiled at him. She reached into her bag for her book and a flashlight.

"How come you never call any of the rest of us that?" Kili asked as he and his brother came over to sit by them.

"I think it would sound rather weird if I called Dwalin that," Lucy said. Dwalin frowned and shook his head. "Ori's just so adorable," Lucy added making the dwarf hide a bashful smile.

"What does that make us?" Kili asked as Fili nodded, wanting to know too.

"You two are..." The two waited for her answer. "handsome."

"You hesitated," Kili pointed out before turning to his brother. "She hesitated." Fili nodded sadly.

" _Guys_ ," Lucy said and the two smiled at her as they sat down beside her. "Anyway, let's see where were we?"

"The Quidditch match," Dori reminded her.

"Right, thank you, Dori," Lucy said. He nodded with a smile.

"You going to be reading more?" Bofur asked. Lucy nodded. He, Bifur and Bombur came over at sat with the others.

"Get ready for bed," Thorin said. "Listen from your bed rolls. Fili, Kili, you're on first watch."

"Right," Fili said. The dwarves all moved to their bed rolls but most leaned on their arms to face Lucy who moved to sit against a tree. "If you want, you can lean against me," Fili whispered to her as he moved over to her. "I'm much more comfortable than a tree."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Course not," he assured with a smile. Fili leaned against the tree then Lucy leaned back against the right side of his chest before she started to read. By the time she was through with two chapters the area was full of snoring dwarves. Lucy had been struggling to keep her eyes open for about five pages. Fili gently took the book from her hands, put the bookmark in, and placed it on the ground. "Get some sleep," he told her softly. "Take my bed roll."

"Fili... I couldn't."

"You can and you will," he insisted with a slight chuckle. Lucy, who was already having trouble keeping her head up, let her head fall onto his shoulder. "Or you could stay here," he offered with a smile as he looked down at her. She let out a soft hum as she slipped an arm around his waist. He slipped his arm around her back.

"Fee." Fili looked over at Kili who was watching the two. "You go ahead and get some sleep, I can handle watch myself." Fili glanced over to Thorin who was asleep.

"You sure?" he asked. Kili nodded.

"Yeah."

"Alright, thanks," Fili said as he smiled down at Lucy before closing his eyes.

...

The next morning Tony woke stiffly and sat up. The dwarves were packing up, quietly talking amongst themselves as per usual; he noticed Lucy asleep against Fili and found himself smiling slightly. Tony stood and brushed the dirt off his pants before he stretched his arms over his head. He looked around and noticed Ori leaning over something.

"Whacha doin' Or'?" Tony asked as he walked over. Ori glanced up at him.

"Hm? I'm documenting the journey," he said as he continued to write. Tony sat down next to him and looked at the pages.

"Why do the a's have three dots over them?" Tony asked with a frown as he pointed to one. Ori blinked and shrugged.

"Yours don't?" he asked. Tony shook his head. Ori shrugged again.

"You write about me and Lucy too?" Tony asked after a moment.

"Of course," Ori said with a smile. "I put a few of the songs the two of you've sung to us and some of the traditions we've learned."

"Traditions?" Tony asked as he tilted his head. Ori nodded.

"Lucy's told us about your world's schooling system, she told me about some of the outdoor games you play like... the one where you throw a ball and hit it with a stick."

"You mean baseball?" Tony asked.

"Yes, that was the word," Ori said before he flipped back a few pages and crossed something out. "How do you spell that?"

"B-a-s-e-b-a-l-l'," Toby spelled out. Ori nodded and wrote it down. "How come I haven't seen you writing before?" Tony asked.

"Well usually write before the sun goes down, you're either practicing with Kili or busy with something else. I didn't get to write everything last night before the sun went down so I thought I'd finish in the morning."

"Ah, okay," Tony said. "You know, if you want you could always borrow my flashlight." Ori's eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you, Tony," Ori said with a smile.

"No problem, buddy," Tony said nudging his arm with a grin. Ori looked surprised for a moment but then his smile came back even bigger.

...

Lucy woke with her back aching slightly from the position she'd slept in. She was holding something, she held it closer before she froze; she opened her eyes and suddenly remembered where she'd fallen asleep.

"Sleep well?" Fili asked as he smiled down at her.

"I'm so sorry," Lucy gasped as she pulled away, letting go of him. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to fall asleep on you-"

"Lucy, it's alright," Fili assured her with a laugh as he watched her face flush. "I guess I'm quite comfortable," he said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry... most of the time I can't sleep unless I'm holding something," Lucy admitted. "I normally hold my bag..."

"Well, you can hold onto me whenever you need to," Fili said making Lucy's face flush again.

"Are you bothering our dear Lucy, brother?" Kili asked as he walked over with a smile.

"Of course not," Fili said but then stopped and looked to Lucy. "I'm not, am I?"

"No, no, you're fine," Lucy said giving him a smile.

"Um, Lucy?" Kili asked.

"Yes Kili?"

"May I speak to you, for a moment?" he asked as he glanced at the ground.

"Of course," she said. He held a hand out for her and helped her up before leading her away and out of earshot of his brother and everyone else. "What's the matter?" Lucy asked with a concerned frown.

"Nothing's the matter... it's just..." Kili let go of her hand to play with his fingers. "Did you mean what you said last night?" he asked as he glanced up from his hands briefly. Lucy blinked.

"What did I say?" she asked.

"That Fili and I... that _I'm_ ...handsome?" Kili asked as he glanced at her.

"Of course I meant it," she said. "Why wouldn't I have meant it?"

"Well... no reason," he said quickly as he looked away.

"No, tell me," Lucy insisted, putting a hand on his arm when he turned to walk away. Kili hesitated.

"Well... I'm not... I don't look like other dwarves..." he said quietly. "I-I don't have a beard like Fili... my nose is..." Kili stopped as Lucy bit her bottom lip and tried not to laugh. Kili looked extremely embarrassed and went to turn away again.

"No, no, I'm not laughing at you," Lucy assured him quickly as she took one of his hands in hers. Kili looked down at her hands before looking at her. "I just don't understand what having a beard has to do with anything and I see absolutely nothing wrong with your nose." Kili blinked.

"Well... look at everyone else." He gestured to the others. "They've all got big beards and their noses aren't as small as mine," he muttered, looking at it slightly cross-eyed with a frown. "And my ears are-"

"Kili," Lucy interrupted as she put a hand on one of his cheeks and Kili swallowed as heat came to them. "I think you're very attractive, beard or no beard. And your nose is perfect," she said before lightly tapping it with a smile. Kili smiled back. "As are your ears," she said lighting stroking his hair that covered his ear.

"Thank you, Lucy," he said.

"Of course," she said before looking back at the others. "Looks like everyone's ready to go." Lucy turned to walk away but Kili grabbed her hand.

"Wait-! Lucy?"

"Hm?" Lucy hummed as she turned back to him.

"Could you... I mean would you ride with me today?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

"Sure," she said. Kili's smile grew.

"Lucy!" Fili called. The two looked over to see him waving her over.

"Um, Fili?" Lucy walked over. "I'm going to ride with Kili today, if that's okay?" Fili frowned slightly but quickly covered it up.

"Of course, why wouldn't it be? Tony, you're riding with me then," Fili said.

"Alright," Tony said with a shrug; it made no difference to him. Lucy got on Kili's pony and Kili couldn't help his grin as he got on behind her. He slid an arm around her.

"Just so you don't fall off," he explained quickly. Lucy glanced back at him.

"I know," she said with a smile.

"Just making sure," he said. Lucy nodded and face forward again. She leaned back slightly against his chest like she normally did when she rode with Fili and Kili's smile widened.

 **...**

"Kee, that tickles," Lucy said quietly as she turned her head to look at him, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said with an innocent smile.

" _Kee,_ " Lucy whined as quietly as she could as she squirmed slightly. Kili chuckled slightly. Lucy put her arm over his, her hand stopping his fingers against her side. She looked back at him and he winked at her. She gave him a playful glare.

"If you wanted to hold my hand, all you had to do was ask," Kili said quietly as he put his hand over hers and laced their fingers together. Lucy gave him a look as she tried to hold back a smile. "What?" he asked innocently.

"You're lucky you're so cute," Lucy said making Kili grin. She smiled back as she saw his eyes light up. He gave her hand a light squeeze and she settled back against him.

* * *

A few days later, the Company arrived at an old, abandoned farmhouse that was in shambles.

"We'll camp here for the night," Thorin decided. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."

"A farmer and his family used to live here," Gandalf noted as he approached the remains of the house.

"Oin, Gloin," Thorin said.

"Aye?" Gloin responded.

"Get a fire going."

"Right you are," Gloin said.

"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley," Gandalf suggested. Thorin walked over.

"I have told you already, I will not go near that place," he told him.

"Why not? The elves could help us. We could get food, rest, advice."

"I do not need their advice."

"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us."

"Help? A dragon attacks Erebor, what help came from the Elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls, the Elves looked on and did nothing. You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather and betrayed my father."

"You are neither of them. I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past."

"I did not know that they were yours to keep," Thorin said. Gandalf stomped off angrily, leaving the Company.

"Everything alright? Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo asked.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense," Gandalf said.

"And who's that?" Bilbo asked.

"Myself, Mr. Baggins! I've had enough of dwarves for one day," Gandalf said.

"Come on, Bombur, we're hungry," Thorin said.

"Is he coming back?" Bilbo asked Balin. Balin looked unsure.

...

That night, Bombur had prepared a dinner of soup and the dwarves sat around eating it.

"He's been a long time," Bilbo noted as he came away from one of the supports of the house.

"Who?" Bofur asked.

"Gandalf," Bilbo said.

"He's a wizard! He does as he chooses." Bofur looked at Tony and waved him over. "Here, do us a favor: take these to the lads." Bofur handed Bilbo and Tony each a bowl of soup to take to Fili and Kili. The two looked at each other before walking away. Bombur tried to take more soup but Bofur lightly smacked his hand. "Stop it, you've had plenty," Bofur scolded. He looked towards Lucy who sat by herself, her arms on her knees and her chin on her arms, staring at the fire. "Hungry lass?" Lucy looked up, a bit in surprise. She shook her head. "You haven't eaten all day," he said as he brought her a bowl.

"Thank you," she said as she took it with a thankful smile.

"You're welcome," he said returning the smile with an even bigger one.

"Miss Lucy?" Ori asked as he came over to her.

"Yes Sweetheart?"

"Does this look like a fairy?" Ori asked as he turned his book so she could see it.

"Wow, Ori, this is amazing," Lucy said as her eyes widened. "Did... did you make _me_ the fairy?" she asked with a smile. Ori nodded as he smiled.

"I thought that would make it prettier," he admitted. Lucy put down her bowl of food and pulled the dwarf into a hug. Ori's face flushed and Bofur started chuckling. "I'm glad you like it," Ori said once Lucy pulled back.

"I love it," she said.

"Then I want you to have it," Ori said holding it out to her.

"Oh I couldn't."

"I insist."

"Thank you, Ori," Lucy said as she took the paper. "You're the sweetest," she said before kissing his cheek.

* * *

Bilbo and Tony went out in the dark to where Fili and Kili were watching the ponies. They were staring out into the dark and didn't take the soup from the two when they held it out to them.

"I think they're broken," Tony joked as he looked up at Fili's face.

"What's the matter?" Bilbo asked.

"We're supposed to be looking out for the ponies," Kili said.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem," Fili said.

"We had sixteen."

"Now there's fourteen." They all examined the group of ponies.

"That is a problem," Tony said before the four went around to see which ponies were missing. "How do you lose two ponies?" Tony asked.

"Daisy and Bungo are missing," Kili said walking back to the others.

"Well, that's not good," Bilbo said with a nervous laugh as he noticed some large trees were recently uprooted. "That is not good _at all_. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?" Bilbo asked.

"Uhh, no. Let's not worry him," Fili said. "As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it," he said to Bilbo.

"Well, uh...look, some-something big uprooted these trees," Bilbo said.

"That was our thinking," Kili agreed.

"Something very big, and possibly quite dangerous," Bilbo continued.

"Hey! There's a light. Over here! Stay down," Fili said. The four of them quietly moved toward the light Fili had seen and they hid behind a log when they realized that it was a fire. Harsh laughter sounded from near the fire but their four couldn't see the source.

"What is it?" Bilbo asked.

"Trolls," Kili said.

"Trolls?" Tony asked.

"Another thing not found in your world?" Kili asked. Tony shook his head. Fili and Kili ran toward the fire, Tony behind them; Bilbo started to follow them, but returned to grab the two bowls of soup that were left on the log before going after them. Bilbo hid behind a tree as massive mountain troll walked past, toward the fire, carrying a kicking pony under each arm.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty! I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something," Bilbo said.

"Yes; you should," Kili agreed. He moved around Bilbo taking one of the bowls as he did. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small."

"N-n-no-" Bilbo tried to protest.

"They'll never see you," Kili assured him.

"No, no, no..."

"It's perfectly safe! We'll be right behind you," Fili said taking the other bowl. "If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl," Fili instructed as he pushed Bilbo toward the fire. Bilbo began whispering Fili's instructions to himself, trying to remember them, but got them mixed up.

"Twice like a barn owl, twice like a brown-once like a brown? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bilbo turned around, but Fili, Kili and Tony were already out of sight.

The three trolls, Tom, Bert, and William, sat around a fire on which a cauldron of something was cooking. Tom was the troll who brought the ponies. William had on a dirty vest. Bert was the cook and was even wearing an apron.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow," Bert said.

"Quit yer' griping. These ain't sheep. These is West Nags!" Tom said.

"Oh, I don't like 'orse. I never 'ave. Not enough fat on them," William said.

"Well, it's better than the leathery old farmer. All skin and bone, he was. I'm still picking bits of him out of me teeth." William sneezed into the pot they had boiling over a fire.

"Oh, that's lovely, that is; a floater," Bert said.

"Oh, might improve the flavor!" Tom said.

"Ah! There's more where that came from," William said. He began to sneeze more, but Bert grabbed him by the nose. Bilbo, unseen, got behind them.

"Oh no you don't," Bert said before throwing William down.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Sit down," Bert said. William sneezed again, this time into a handkerchief he pulled out from behind him. He sniffed for a long time. Bilbo reached the pen in which the ponies were held and attempted to untie the ropes. He hid as William turned towards him.

"I hope you're gonna gut these nags. I don't like the stinky parts," William said. Bert hit William with his ladle, and William squealed in pain.

"I said sit down!" Bert said.

"I'm starving! Are we 'aving horse tonight or what?" Tom said.

"Shut your cakehole. You'll eat what I give ya'." As William pulled out his handkerchief, Bilbo saw that he was wearing a long knife in his belt. Bilbo, unable to untie the ropes restraining the ponies, attempted to get the knife from the troll.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Tony asked quietly as he turned to Kili.

"He's doing fine," Fili said.

"Just in case, I think one of you should go get the others," Tony said.

"You may be right," Kili said. "Go get the others."

"I don't wanna do it," Tony protested with a frown.

"Fine, but you stay hidden if I need to go help him," Kili said before looking at his brother. Fili nodded and quietly made his way back to the camp. William, about to sneeze, reached behind him for his handkerchief, but accidentally grabbed Bilbo instead, and sneezed all over him.

"Ulgh," Tony and Kili both groaned quietly in disgust. William started to freak out when he saw Bilbo, who looked shocked, in his hand.

"Argh! Blimey! Bert! Bert! Look what's come out of me 'ooter! It's got arms and legs and everything." The other trolls gathered around to look.

"What is it?" Tom asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around!" William said before he shook Bilbo off the napkin and onto the ground.

"What are you then? An oversized squirrel?" Tom asked.

"I'm a burglar- uhh, Hobbit," Bilbo said quickly correcting himself.

"A Burgla-Hobbit?" William asked.

"Can we cook 'im?" Tom asked.

"We can try!" William said and tried to grab Bilbo but he dodged him only to be cornered by Bert.

"He wouldn't make more than a mouthful, not when he's skinned and boned!" Bert said.

"Perhaps there's more Burglar-Hobbits around these parts. Might be enough for a pie," Tom said.

"Grab him!" Bert shouted.

"It's too quick!" William said. As the trolls tried to catch Bilbo, he ran around trying to dodge them. Bert accidentally hit William with his ladle while trying to hit Bilbo. Bilbo was eventually caught by the legs by Tom, and held upside down in the air. Kili looked behind him and saw the rest of the company quietly heading towards them.

"Tony," Kili whispered. "You stay here, stay hidden. Under no circumstances do you come out," he said before moving through the bushes. Tony frowned.

"But..." Tony sighed.

"Come here, you little... Gotcha! Are there any more of you little fellas 'iding where you shouldn't?" Tom asked.

"Nope," Bilbo squeaked.

"He's lying," William said.

"No I'm not!" Bilbo insisted.

"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal," Kili suddenly ran out of the bushes and cut William in the leg, making him howl and fall down.

"Drop him!" Kili shouted.

"You what?" Tom asked. Kili twirled his sword once.

"I said, drop him." Tom threw Bilbo at Kili, who tried to catch the hobbit, knocking them both down. The rest of the Company charged out of the bushes yelling and brandishing their weapons. They began fighting the trolls, hacking, slashing, and hammering their legs. Tony watched with a deep frown. He heard a noise and turned to see Lucy as she crouched next to him.

"We've got to do something," Tony whispered to her.

"We can't just go running in there," Lucy whispered back. "We don't have any weapons."

"We don't need weapons; we need to help the little guy free the ponies," Tony said before he got up slightly and started around to get to the horse pen.

"His name is Bilbo," Lucy said quietly as she followed after Tony who pulled out a tac-force blade. "Where did you-? You went in my bag?" Lucy hissed. Tony rolled his eyes.

"You weren't using it," he said. They got to the pen before Bilbo did, he was still trying to get around the trolls and stay out of the dwarves' way.

"How long have you had that? Give it to me; you'll cut yourself!" Lucy scolded as he held out her hand for the knife.

"No way, I'm gunna do it."

" _Tony_. Give it to me."

" _No._ " Lucy went to grab that knife by the handle but Tony pulled it away and ended up cutting Lucy's palm.

" _Ow!_ " she yelped. Tony's eyes widened and he stared at her hand.

"I-I-I didn't mean to-!" he said as he shook his head frantically. Meanwhile, Bilbo had grabbed William's knife and cut the ropes to free the ponies. Tom, who saw this, grabbed Bilbo. The dwarves stopped fighting when they saw Bert and Tom holding Bilbo by his arms and legs.

"Bilbo!" Kili yelled as he started to run forward.

"No!" Thorin shouted stopping him.

"Tony, go, go!" Lucy hissed as she pushed him with her uninjured hand towards the woods. They started to run but William grabbed them causing them both to scream as he lifted them up.

"There's two more!" he said as he held them upside down.

"Put us down!" Tony shouted.

"Lucy!" Fili shouted before he grit his teeth.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off," Tom said. Thorin looked at Bilbo then Lucy in frustration, and then planted his sword in the ground. The others dropped their swords and weapons as well.

 **...**

The trolls had tied several dwarves - Dwalin, Bofur, Dori, Ori and Nori - onto a spit and were roasting them over a fire in their underclothes; the rest, Bilbo, Lucy and Tony were tied up in sacks nearby. Fili had been dropped face down and was struggling to turn over. Lucy was laying face down half across Kili in the same situation; her head was by Fili's.

"You should've stayed hidden," he said to her.

"Don't blame me, blame Tony," she hissed.

"I heard that," Tony growled from his place next to Oin.

"I told you to stay behind," Thorin hissed at Lucy. Lucy flinched and Kili and Fili frowned.

"Don't bother cooking them. Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly," William said.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," Bert said.

"Is this really necessary?" Dori asked.

"Ooh, that does sound quite nice," William agreed.

"Untie us, you monsters!" Oin shouted

"Take on someone your own size!" Gloin shouted. The dwarves on the spit and in the bags were all making noises and talking in fear.

"Never mind the seasoning; we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone," Tom said. Bilbo heard what Tom said and had an idea.

"Wait! You are making a terrible mistake," Bilbo suddenly said.

"You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!" Dori shouted.

"Half-wits? What does that make us?" Bofur asked. Bilbo managed to stand up, although still tied up in a sack. He faced the trolls.

"Uh, I meant with the, uh, with, uh, with the seasoning," Bilbo said.

"What about the seasoning?" Bert asked.

"Well have you smelt them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up." The dwarves yelled at Bilbo, calling him a traitor. The ones in sacks tried to kick him at.

"Uh, th-the secret to cooking dwarf is, um-" Bilbo said.

"Yes? Come on," Bert said.

"It's, uh-" Bilbo hesitated trying to think of something.

"Tell us the secret," Bert pressed.

"Ye-yes, I'm telling you, the secret is ..." The Dwarves all stopped to stare at him. "to... skin them first!" Bilbo blurted. The dwarves all started shouting at him.

"Tom, get me the filleting knife," Bert said.

"If I get you, you little-" Gloin shouted.

"I won't forget that!" Dwalin shouted.

"What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all," Tom said. Bilbo saw Gandalf slipping behind some trees nearby.

"'e's right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy," William said and grabbed Lucy who immediately screamed. Everyone started shouting in protest.

"No!"

"Lucy!"

"Put her down you oversized pig!" Tony shouted, squirming to get free from his sack.

"She's not a dwarf!"

"Put her down!" Some of the others shouted.

"Food's food," William said with a shrug. "'sides, females have the best taste," he said before he dangled Lucy upside down over his mouth. Lucy's breath caught in her throat, she could barely hear the dwarves shouting in protest over the sound of her heartbeat pounding in her ears.

"Lucy!" Tony shouted.

"Wait!" Bilbo shouted. "Y-You can't eat her first!" William stopped and looked at Bilbo with a frown.

"Why not?"

"Because... you should save the best for last?" Bilbo squeaked.

"He's got a point," Bert said.

"Alright." He tossed Lucy to the ground and she ended up almost rolling into the fire. She tried to calm her breathing as the dwarves on the spit looked down at her with wide, worried eyes. "Then I'll have this one." William picked up Bombur and held him over his mouth.

"Not-not him, he—he's infected!" Bilbo shouted.

"You what?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, he's got worms in his ... tubes," Bilbo said. William dropped Bombur into the pile of Dwarves in disgust. "In-in fact they _all_ have, they're in-infested with parasites. It's a terrible business; I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

"Parasites, did he say parasites?" Oin asked.

"We don't have parasites! You have parasites!" Kili shouted.

"What are you talking about, laddie?" Gloin shouted. The rest of the dwarves chimed in about how they didn't have parasites and how Bilbo was a fool. Bilbo rolled his eyes as the dwarves messed up his plan.

"Idiots," Tony hissed. Thorin heard him as he suddenly understood Bilbo's plan and kicked the others. They then understood and went along with it. All the dwarves began proclaiming about how they were "riddled" with parasites.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm," Oin said.

"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" Kili shouted.

"We're riddled," Nori said.

"Yes, I'm riddled," Ori said.

"Yes we are. Badly!" Dori said.

"What would you have us do, then, let 'em all go?" Tom asked.

"Well..." Bilbo said.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!" Tom accused.

"Ferret?" Bilbo asked, offended.

"Fools?" Bert asked. Gandalf appeared on top of a large rock above the clearing.

"The dawn will take you all!" he shouted.

"Who's that?" Bert asked.

"No idea." Tom said.

"Can we eat 'im too?" William asked. Gandalf struck the rock with his staff, splitting it in half, allowing the sunlight behind it to pour into the clearing. When the sunlight touched the trolls' skin, they began turning into stone amidst loud screams and howls of pain. Within seconds, there were three stone statues of trolls in the clearing. All the dwarves laughed and cheered for Gandalf. Of course, the dwarves on the spit still looked uncomfortable.

"Oh, get your foot out of my back!" Dwalin shouted. Gandalf came over and helped Bilbo out of his sack to help the others before going over to the spit to get the dwarves down. Bilbo hurried over to Lucy and freed her from her sack.

"Thank you Bilbo," she said, still slightly breathless. He nodded. Lucy got up and moved to the other dwarves. She rolled Fili over and helped him out of his sack.

"Are you alright?" Fili asked as he put his hands on her upper arms, giving her a once over. Lucy nodded.

"I'm alright. Just... shaken up," she said quietly. Fili cupped her face slightly and attempted to rub some dirt away with his thumb. Lucy swallowed as he held her face, meeting her eyes a moment later.

"Little help here!" Tony snapped pulling Lucy's attention away. She sighed and turned to help him. "Yeah thanks, help the dwarf before your own brother," he said. Lucy rolled her eyes and got him out of the sack before moving to help Kili out of his.

"So, biggest parasites huh?" she asked with a small teasing smile. Kili pouted, embarrassed, which made Lucy chuckle.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he turned to her with a worried expression on his face.

"I'm okay."

"I thought my heart was going to stop," Kili admitted.

"It's a good thing Bilbo saved us then," Lucy said giving the hobbit a smile. He smiled back, she was the only one to thank him.

* * *

 **I added A LOT to this one. I saw a pinterest picture that pointed out Kili doesn't have a big nose, ears or beard to speak of so he probably thinks he's ugly by dwarvish standards.**

 **Old Word Count: 3,486 New Word Count: 7,087**


	7. Chapter 6

**_So last chapter was long which is why I waited so long to post this one._**

 **My Birthday gift to you guys is chapters! (Yeah it's really my birthday, I'm not kidding, I'm 19 now, yay) I'm going to post another chapter later today.**

 **As of 5/24/2018 I've fixed dialog grammatical errors and revised the chapter...again.**

 **(5/24/2018: Also did I really post this two years ago? I'm sorry my updates are so slow in rewriting this)**

The sun was higher in the sky; the dwarves had all been freed from the spit and from the sacks and had all gotten dressed. Bofur and Bombur helped Bifur up then helped him crack his back. Fili walked up to Lucy.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Lucy reached up and pushed some of her hair out of her face.

"I'm okay now," she said. Fili's eyes widened and he grabbed her hand gently.

"When did _this_ happen?" he asked. Lucy looked down to see the cut from the pocket knife; her entire palm was red but the blood had already started to crust over. She sighed.

"I tried to take _my_ knife away from Tony," she said.

"Oin!" Fili called. "I need a bandage!"

"You alright, lad?" Oin asked came over and he handed Fili a bandage along with an herbal ointment of some kind.

"Not for me." Fili shook his head as he took them. He took out his water flask and poured a bit on Lucy's cut making her gasp and jump slightly. "Sorry," Fili said before putting the ointment on then wrapping her hand. Lucy noticed Thorin's hard gaze and lowered her head as she looked away. Once Fili had finished wrapping her hand he held it in his for a moment making her looked up at him.

"Thank you," she said and he smiled at her.

"Tell us whenever you get hurt," he said as he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Okay," she said as she returned the smile shyly.

 **...**

Gandalf walked to one of the troll statues and thumped it with his staff, a pleased smile on his face.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" Thorin asked Gandalf.

"To look ahead," Gandalf said.

"What brought you back?" Thorin asked.

"Looking behind. Nasty business. Still, they are all in one piece."

"No thanks to your burglar."

"He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that." Thorin looked repentant. Gandalf and Thorin examined the statues of the trolls. "They must have come down from the Ettenmoors," Gandalf said.

"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?"

"Oh, not for an age, not since a darker power ruled these lands." Gandalf and Thorin looked meaningfully at each other. "They could not have moved in daylight."

"There must be a cave nearby," Thorin said as he turned.

 **...**

The company found a large cave nearby and a few of them entered it. It was full of treasure the trolls had been hoarding.

"Oh, what's that stench?!" Nori asked.

"It's a _troll_ hoard. Be careful what you touch," Gandalf said. As they entered the cave, many of the dwarves coughed and retched at the pungency. Inside, they found piles of gold coins and other treasure in caskets.

"Seems a shame just to leave it lyin' around," Bofur said as he pushed around some of the gold with his boot. "Anyone could take it."

"Agreed. Nori, get a shovel," Gloin said. Lucy entered with a hand over her nose and mouth. Dwalin heard her and turned to see her looking around.

"You alright, lass?" he asked.

"I can't breathe in here," Lucy groaned. Dwalin chuckled as she quickly left.

 **...**

While exploring the treasures, Thorin found two swords covered in cobwebs. Gandalf approached him.

"These swords were not made by any troll," Thorin said. Thorin handed one sword to Gandalf and kept the other one.

"Nor were they made by any smith among men," Gandalf said. He drew the sword in his hand out of its sheath a few inches. "These were forged in Gondolin by the High Elves of the First Age." Realizing that they were Elven swords, Thorin started to put his away in disgust.

"You could not wish for a finer blade," Gandalf snapped. Reluctantly, Thorin held on to the sword. He drew it out of its sheath a few inches as well. He closed it before looking back at the swords thoughtfully. He took out a shorter one and held it out to Gandalf who raised an eyebrow.

"For the boy," Thorin said and Gandalf nodded. Thorin looked back at the swords and took out another before heading towards the exit. Some of the dwarves filled a chest with treasure and buried it in a hole in the ground. Dwalin looked on in disgust.

"We're makin' a long term deposit," Gloin said.

"Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go. Bofur! Gloin! Nori!" Thorin called as he left.

On his way out, Gandalf stepped on something metallic. Brushing aside the leaves beneath him with his staff, he found another smaller sword. Gandalf exited the cave and headed over to where Bilbo was sitting.

"Bilbo," Gandalf said.

"Hmm?" Bilbo looked up.

"Here. This is about your size," Gandalf said as he handed him the small sword.

"I can't take this."

"The blade is of Elvish make which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby."

"I have never used a sword in my life."

"And I hope you never have to. But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one," Gandalf said and then spotted Tony. "Ah, Mister Montgomery." Tony turned to look up at him, raising an eyebrow in question. "This sword is about your size, should fit you nicely." Tony's eyes lit up as Gandalf handed it to him.

"Sweet!" he exclaimed and grinned as he took it. Gandalf saw Lucy frown as she watched Tony unsheathe it.

"It's not a toy, Tony," she said. Tony's grin was replaced with a scowl and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, I know!" he said. Lucy opened her mouth to speak as he took a few practice swings, but stopped and turned away. Thorin walked up to her and she looked at him in question before he held out the other sword he had picked out.

" _Learn_ ," he snapped as he shoved the blade into her arms. " _Try_ to keep yourself and that brother of yours out of trouble." Lucy bit her tongue but glared at his back as he walked away. She pulled the out the blade from its sheath and saw it was black. Turning it over in her hands a small frown formed on her face before she started cleaning off the cobwebs. The pommel was wrapped in brown leather and the upper hilt extended outwards with a blue jewel while the second smaller one curved to points. "Something's coming!" Thorin shouted when he heard something moving through the forest.

"Stay together! Hurry now. Arm yourselves," Gandalf said. Bilbo slowly drew his sword and looked at it. He then followed the others, who had run off in the direction of the noise. Lucy looked around, quickly found Tony and stood by him.

 **...**

Radagast the Brown rode at full speed through the forest on his rabbit-drawn sled.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" he shouted as he pulled up short by the Company.

"Radagast! Radagast the Brown. Ah. What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf asked.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?" Radagast opened his mouth to speak, but shut it. He opened his mouth again, but closed it again. He had forgotten what he was going to say.

"Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue." He curled up his tongue, and looked surprised. "Oh, it's not a thought at all; it's a silly old..." Gandalf pulled a stick insect out of Radagast's mouth before putting it in Radagast's palm. "-stick insect!" The dwarves and Bilbo looked flustered. Tony and Lucy exchanged disgusted looks.

...

Radagast and Gandalf went off a few paces and to speak privately. Tony walked away from the group and unsheathed his sword again. He grinned at it before he started swinging it around again. Lucy looked down at her own sword with a frown. She turned to look at Thorin who was talking with Dwalin and Balin. Balin glanced over at her as she looked back down at her sword and pulled it out of its sheathe slightly.

"I see Tony's got himself a sword as well," Kili said as he approached Lucy. She nodded with a frown. "He'll be fine; now that he has a weapon of his own, Fili can train him to protect himself better." Lucy nodded.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "I just don't want him to get hurt."

"I'm sure _Kili_ could give _you_ lessons as well," Fili said popping up on her other side. "Wouldn't want _you_ to hurt _yourself_ either, you know." Kili smiled.

"Sure I could, what do ya say?" Kili asked as he nudged her arm gently.

"Of course _I_ could always give you fighting lessons as well," Fili said. "Ya know, just so you're _extra_ prepared," he added with a smirk.

"I'd like that," Lucy said as she smiled at the two. "Thank you. Hey, Kili?"

"Yes?"

"Would you teach me archery?" Lucy asked. Kili's eyes lit up.

"Of course!" he said. "I didn't know you'd be interested."

"Well I figured since you're the only one with a bow that must mean you're pretty good."

"Oh, he's the best," Fili boasted giving his brother a nudge. Kili grinned.

"So how about we start that lesson-" he was cut off as a howl was heard in the distance.

"Was that a wolf? Are there-are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asked.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf," Bofur said. From behind a nearby crag, a Warg appeared; it leaped into the midst of the Company, knocking down Dori. Thorin struck and killed it using his new sword. Another Warg attacked from the other side; Kili shot it with an arrow, bringing it down. It got back up, only to be killed by Dwalin.

"Warg-Scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind," Thorin said.

"Orc pack?" Bilbo asked.

"That doesn't sound good," Tony said.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf asked Thorin.

"No one," he insisted.

"Who did you tell?!" Gandalf asked against urgently.

"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted."

"Looks like your lessons will have to wait," Fili said.

"We have to get out of here," Dwalin said.

"We can't! We have no ponies; they bolted!" Ori shouted.

" _Great_ ," Tony groaned. "We have to run."

"I'll draw them off," Radagast said.

"These are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you," Gandalf warned.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try," Radagast said with a smirk. He got back on his sled. Gandalf gathered everyone together.

Yazneg, the orc leader of the Warg Riders, and his Wargs were searching right outside the forest for the Company; suddenly Radagast and his rabbits shot out from the trees and the Wargs started chasing him.

"Come and get me! Ha ha!" Radagast laughed. Gandalf watched from behind a rock as Radagast and the Wargs disappeared in the distance.

"Come on!" Gandalf shouted. The Company rushed across a rocky plain, Lucy made sure to keep Tony in front of her. In the distance, Radagast was being chased by the Wargs. One of them crashed while trying to catch him. As the Company ran across the plain, they saw the Wargs not too far from them, so they hid behind the rocks. "Stay together." Lucy put a hand on Tony's arm.

"Stay close to me," she said. He shook her hand off and Lucy frowned.

"Move!" Thorin commanded. Lucy stayed as close to her brother as she could. As the Company ran, Radagast drove his sled beneath an overhanging projection of rock; he ducked, but the Orc on the Warg behind him got knocked off. As the chase continued, Thorin and the others stopped behind a rock so that they were not seen by the Wargs. Ori stared to run out of cover. "Ori, no! Get back!" Thorin grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Quick, come on! Quick!" Gandalf said once it was clear to go. As the dwarves continued running past him and Thorin, Thorin turned to Gandalf.

"Where are you leading us?" he asked. Gandalf didn't answer. As the Warg scouts chased Radagast, one of them stopped and sniffed the air. The dwarves took cover behind an outcropping of rock. The scout and his Warg appeared on top of the outcropping, sniffing the air. Thorin looked at Kili and nodded; readying an arrow, Kili quickly stepped out and shot the Warg. The Warg and the orc on it fell near the dwarves. Tony ran forward but Thorin pushed him back as the other attacked and killed the orc and warg. The sounds of their fight carried quite far; the other Wargs and Orcs stopped chasing Radagast as they heard the roars and screams from behind the rocks. The Warg scouts howled as they stop pursuing Radagast and began pursuing the Company.

"Move! _Run!_ " Gandalf shouted. As the company ran through a grassy plain Wargs began to surround them from all sides.

"There they are!" Gloin shouted.

"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf shouted. They ran for a while longer, and then stopped in a clearing as they saw Wargs on all sides. Lucy grabbed Tony and pulled him to her. He shrugged her off.

"Get off, Lucy!" he said sounding annoyed. Lucy bit her lip. The dwarves were quiet spread out but were slowly being forced back towards a large rock.

"There's more coming!" Kili shouted as he ran closer to the others.

"Kili! Shoot them!" Thorin shouted. Gandalf saw a large rock; he ran toward it and disappeared into a crack. Lucy, seeing this started running over.

"Quick, down here!" she shouted. No one listened to her. "Tony!" Tony glanced over at her but quickly looked away as he held up his sword. "Tony-!"

"I wanna fight!" Tony protested as he started to move back.

"You'll get yourself killed!" Lucy shouted. Tony rolled his eyes.

"We're surrounded!" Fili shouted. Kili began shooting at the Wargs and the Warg-riders, killing some of them.

"Where is Gandalf?!" Kili shouted.

"He has abandoned us!" Dwalin shouted. The dwarves gathered closer to each other near the rock Gandalf disappeared by. As Yazneg and his Warg approached, Ori shot a rock at him with his slingshot, to no effect. Thorin pulled out his sword.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin shouted. Lucy unsheathed her sword as she walked backwards away from the Wargs. Gandalf popped up from the crack in the rock.

"This way, you fools!" he shouted.

"Come on, move! Quickly, all of you! Go, go, go!" Thorin shouted running to the rock and getting up a small one nearby. Lucy looked extremely annoyed that everyone only started to move because it was Gandalf who said where to go. As the Wargs approached, the dwarves and Bilbo slid into the large crack in the rock and into a cave.

"Lucy!" Fili shouted. As she had turned and started to run a Warg, with an orc rider, took off after her.

"Lucy, drop!" Kili shouted. She glanced behind her as the Warg leaped at her before she hit the ground. Kili shot the Warg in the air. It hit the ground and tumbled in front of her but didn't get up. The orc on it however did. It growled at her with its weapon ready. Lucy scrambled to her feet.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" she squeaked.

"Lucy!" Tony screamed.

"Go!" Thorin yelled to Tony as he grabbed him and pushed him towards the rock.

"But-!" Tony looked at him with wide eyes. Thorin looked towards Lucy before looking back at Tony.

" _Go!_ " he commanded. Tony hesitated looking back at Lucy as she held up her sword. She quickly glanced behind her and saw more Wargs far behind her but approaching. The orc swung at Lucy who fell back, having tripped over a rock, and swung at its legs. The sword connected with a sickening crack. There was a sudden squelch sound and the orc fell down with an arrow in its head.

"Lucy!" Kili shouted. Lucy scrambled to get up, letting out a pained gasp as a bolt of pain shot up from her left ankle, and started running as best she could. After about ten feet her ankle gave out and she hit the ground, catching herself on her hands. As Dori slid down into the crack he grabbed Tony, who protested but couldn't do anything about it. The two rolled until they were caught at the bottom by Dwalin. Tony scrambled to stand and stared up at the opening. Thorin killed a Warg that got too close and Kili shot another as Bombur rolled into the cave.

"Nine, ten," Gandalf counted.

"Kili! Run!" Thorin shouted. Fili stopped at the top of the crack beside Thorin and turned to see Lucy trying to stand. Before his uncle could stop him he ran out to her.

"Lucy, come on!" he shouted as she reached her. Fili slipped his arms around her and easily lifted her up; keeping an arm around her waist, he helped her limp quickly to the crack.

Lucy, Fili, Thorin and Kili jumped into the crack last. They scrambled to get up with the help of the others. Lucy closed her eyes as she sat leaned against the wall. She flinched and her eyes snapped open when someone touched her shoulder. Kili looked at her in concern.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Lucy swallowed and shook her head. She motioned to her ankle with a wince.

Just as Yazneg and his Wargs reached the crack, an Elvish horn sounded, and a group of mounted Elves rushed into the fray, shooting and spearing the Wargs and Orcs. The Company listened to the conflict from inside the crack. One of the orcs, shot by an arrow, fell into the cave. Thorin plucked out the arrow and examined its make. "Elves," he spat as he threw the arrow down. There was a pathway at the end of the cave, leading away.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?" Dwalin asked.

"Follow it, of course!" Bofur said wasting no time in following the others right behind him.

"I think that would be wise," Gandalf agreed. He turned to see Tony looking down at the dead orc. "Come along," he said as he put a guiding hand on Tony's back. Tony walked away from him, after the others, and Gandalf lowered his hand. Fili and Kili helped Lucy stand and follow after the others. She was biting her bottom lip, her knuckles white as she gripped her, now sheathed, sword. She felt Thorin's eyes on her and looked over to see his scowl. He started following everyone else and she and the brothers started to walk quietly behind him.

The Company followed the path. It was quite narrow as it was a crack between two tall cliffs. At times, the dwarves had difficulty going through. The pathway eventually opened out into an open area; there was a valley below, and in that valley was the city of Rivendell.

"The Valley of Imraldis. In the Common Tongue, it's known by another name," Gandalf said.

"Rivendell," Bilbo said.

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea," Gandalf said. Thorin turned to Gandalf.

"This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy," he accused.

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself," Gandalf said.

"You think the Elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us," Thorin said.

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me." Fili walked up to Lucy and Tony and put a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Well it looks like you're going to see what elves really look like," he said as he looked down at Tony.

 **As of 5/24/18: I've added Lucy hurting her ankle because in the book they stay for two weeks and I wanted to come up with more things. (I've also unpublished the next chapters posted so I can rewrite it again)**

 **Old Word Count: 2,766 New Word Count: 3,406**


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